Lagniappe
by Olivia Janae
Summary: New to the area Beca goes on a tour through the New Orleans French Quarter on a whim where she meets two other women who become her unlikely friends. After a drunken night of Hurricanes and a blunder that she isn't sure the others remember, they have to decide if they should move on as friends or if she, Chloe, and Aubrey can handle a relationship with a bit of 'lagniappe.'
1. Chapter 1

__  
 **Lagniappe:**  
Pronounced: Lan-yaap  
A creole phrase meaning 'a little something extra'_

 _ **Triad** :_  
 _1\. A polyamorous relationship composed of three people._  
 _2\. The word triad is most often applied to a relationship in which each of the_  
 _three people is sexually and emotionally involved with all the other members of the triad._  
 ___

This is a total AU.

-The story is based pretty heavily in the POV of Aubrey and Beca. Not so much Mitchsen, this is a legit Triple Treble, but simply because it ended up working that way. I found myself saving Chloe chapters for specific moments.

-The girls are older in this story. I don't really name an age but just think older. Which means that Beca has mostly gotten past the bitchy, distant, push everyone away phase and it a little more chill.

-Just warning you now (so no one can say that I didn't) Bumper is a bully. The dude is a dick. He's a terrible person and I actively want to punch the dude in the face. He's going to treat Aubrey like shit pretty steadily. Think of him as an overgrown ten year old.

God, I had two amazing beta readers and editors for this story! Honey_Hill was amazing! Always there for a chat! She gives the best advice and opinions, guys. Like whoa. Dragone was just supposed to be my amazing artist but she ended up being a godsend! Just as much of a beta as anyone else! Thanks, chica! You were such an awesome help! Also, check out the amazing art she did for this story on Tumblr!

Rated: M for language, sexuality, sensuality, adult themes

* * *

 **Prologue:**

 **Beca**

* * *

 _"Aaaaaaaaaallright-y, you're listening to WWOZ, the number one Nawlins station for 'Who Dat nation'! We're going to start this sixty-minute listening block now with a little Craaaaawdadddyyy!"  
_

However, despite the strange flashy cadence of the radio announcer's voice, Beca Mitchell wasn't listening - like, at all. At the moment, she was busy trying to get her brain to rev back into action, realizing that, _oh shit_ , she had to do something other than drive in a straight line for the first time in a while.  
"Right. Okay." She shook her head, trying to wake herself up. "Paying attention – uh, now," she nodded, her fingers motioning to the road as though that would somehow help her concentration levels.

She had gotten onto Interstate-10 somewhere in Arizona two days ago. Since then the only time she had been forced to actively pay attention to the road was when she had to make sure she didn't accidentally get off when she didn't need to. Which she had been able to do...for the most part. Four days and forty hours of driving had lulled her brain into a slightly mushy, trance-like stupor, so having to think again was a little jarring.

 _"...Momma's cookin' gumbo, gumbo, gumbo. Momma's cooking gumbo, the best gumbo…"_

Four. Four freaking days. 'They,' whoever the 'they' was, say that everyone should drive across the country at least once in their life because it was an enriching experience that would help you 'find yourself' or something. Early on day two of the drive she had begun to think that maybe 'they' might have been taking Jack Kerouac a little too seriously. It hadn't been a journey of inner speculation and self-revelation. Mostly it had been droll and filled with disjointed, barely conscious thoughts like: _'what if life is like 'The Truman Show' and I just don't know it? Like, what if the guy in that car right there is really just the guy who used to beg outside of my bank and was recast as 'man driving minivan'?... How can I trust anyone when they might have just been hired to be my friend?'_

The drive had been _long_ ; so long that her strange thoughts had eventually melted into a mindless loop of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' and Lady Gaga's 'Paparazzi' for twenty hours straight.  
It had been boring.  
And she was so ready to get there.  
Beca still hadn't stopped kicking herself for making the choice to drive the freaking _two thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine_ miles instead of flying. Yeah, she knew it was the only way she could get her equipment from San Francisco to the heart of Louisiana and, she had already been giving up so much, a whole life. She hadn't been able to bear the thought of losing the equipment she had once had filling her own personal office…in her loft…in her home…back in California.  
God.  
This wasn't one of those sad pathetic pre-mid-life crisis moves like the ones you see in movies. It wasn't. She wouldn't allow it to be. She hadn't done it to run away from her life. Her life had been awesome. She had been one of the most requested freelancers in 'The City.' She wasn't leaving behind a sad relationship; _she_ had broken up with her last boyfriend over a year before and he was all happy with some new nerdy composer chick. They had even done the whole lets-be-friends lunch a few times which was awesome because he was an awesome guy and their relationship had been awesome, and all of that had been awesome. Her friends had been awesome. _She_ had been the one who wanted the change of pace. _She_ had been the one who had decided that she would find said change of pace in freaking New Orleans. She hadn't been miserable – or lonely – at all; really she _hadn't_ been. Everything had been awesome.  
So, nope.  
No sad story there.  
And if she had spent the first three hours of her drive gruffly wiping away tears then that had simply been because she had made herself leave so early and she had forgotten her favorite travel mug and therefore had been caffeine-less which _hadn't_ been awesome.  
Or at least that's what she told herself.

Her back gave a spasm, and she cringed, trying to change her position in the seat so that she could release the I've-been-driving-forever tension.  
Maybe she should have listened to everyone who insisted that she was going to hate life one day into this not at all unwise or stupid drive. She had just figured that they were being grumpy San Franciscans – you know, people like her – and had ignored them. Turns out maybe they were on to something.

"In one mile take exit 232 toward Airline Drive, Tulane Avenue, Carrollton Avenue," her GPS said again over the sound of the radio.

Beca spent a moment glancing haphazardly between the sign and the GPS.  
She was not at all in the correct lane here.  
Nonplussed after years of San Francisco driving, she gave the barest of glances into her mirror and suddenly she cut across the lanes. Behind her there was a protesting screech of tires and a loud horn but, a little dazed from the trip, she just muttered, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, buddy. Okay. Carrollton, Carrollton...okay, Carrollton." She gave a start and shook her head, trying to clear it a bit more. "Almost there. Yup. Aaaaalmost there. Focus, Becs." She rolled down the window, hoping the slight sting of the June air would help. She regretted it immediately.  
That's right. As weird as it was, she was in the freaking _south_ now. She lived in the freaking _south_.  
The window hadn't even been rolled halfway down before she let out a loud, "nope," and began rolling it back up. She was not about the heat at all. San Francisco didn't get hot, not like this anyway. The AccuWeather widget in the corner of her car's touch screen dash read 89° F and _100% humidity_. That made her do a quick double take and then glance out of her driver's side window at the gray sky, utterly baffled. How was it possible to have one hundred percent humidity and not be raining? That made zero sense. Didn't one hundred percent humidity mean, you know... _water?_

 _"...Hey, I'm a worldly guy, I guess I've seen it all. I've traveled down the Amazon; I've done the Taj Mahal. But I grew up on the bayou and I guess it's plain to see, well, I might have left the bayou, but the bayou's still in me…"_

Still slightly horrified by the idea, Beca turned the air conditioning up in protest, longingly thinking about the cool 65 ° that it probably was at home.  
No, wait, not home, she caught herself yet again, not home, not anymore. She had to stop doing that. New Orleans was her home now. Which – yeah, that wasn't depressing _at all_. Maybe those grumpy San Franciscans were also right about changing careers at this point in life. Too much change wasn't healthy.  
Or maybe she was just being a grumpy bitch, which was something she generally was pretty good at not doing anymore. She was past that phase in her life. Still, there was a ninety percent chance that she was being far more cantankerous than the situation needed.  
Then again, she had been in the car for four days, soooo whatever.  
Resignedly, she reached across to the passenger seat which was littered with four days worth of fast food wrappers, old coffee cups, candy wrappers, gum wrappers, and empty water bottles. She had to feel around for a second before her hand found the small box of powdered donuts, the ones she had picked up that morning. She pulled the last one out and took a large bite as she merged into the far lane to finally take her exit.

 _"...Not long ago, man, I was on this trip-o, hanging out in Africa, hunting for a hippo..."_

"Okay, what the fuck is this?" Her words came out garbled behind the donut as the strange song finally demanded her full attention.

 _"I knew right away I just had to go and get a big bowl of my momma's gumbo. Momma's cookin' gumbo, gumbo, gumbo. Momma's cooking gumbo, a big gumbo. Well, I climbed up the tree. The hippo came by. I said I'll shoot ya later, cuz I really gotta fly…"_

What the hell was she hearing right now? Torn between amusement and utter bafflement she turned the volume up and listened incredulously.

 _"...Got to an airstrip, the pilot's name was Bungo…"_

Suddenly the steering wheel was covered with a fine white powder as Beca choked on the bite of doughnut. She gasped and choked; sure she was about to die before she could drag in a deep breath.

 _"...I hopped in a plane and we flew out of the jungle. An hour over Kenya we were runnin' outta gas. Bungo said I'm sorry, champ, I think we're gonna crash! I grabbed me a parachute, I said see ya, Bo, can't die 'til I get a bowl of momma's gumbo…"_

The. Fuck. Beca swore, shaking her head and merging over one more lane. People said that New Orleans was a place all to its own, and she knew that it would be really different from anything she was used to but what the hell was happening on her radio right now? "Yeah," she muttered. "That's not music."  
Was this what these people were expecting because she wasn't sure she could give it to them. She pressed the seek button, and the radio automatically clicked to the next station. Her agitation only rose when she heard the same strange voice speak-singing as it began to fade:

 _"You could own Texaco, make your fortune from the pump. You may lead a charmed existence but no matter where you go, life don't get much better than your momma's gumbo…' alright, listeners, that was Crawdaddy's big hit and next -"_

She clicked off the radio and turned off the interstate still chuckling a little nervously.  
For what felt like the millionth time in four days she wondered if she really knew what she was doing when she accepted this job offer, or what awaited her in The Big Easy.

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1** _

Yes, Beca knew that she had a highly developed sweet tooth, this wasn't the first time that had been apparent. But. As it turned out the fuss over beignets was totally reasonable and she was surprised there weren't more people who were hopelessly devoted to them. Like a whole religion, maybe? Because they were freaking delicious. They were like little fluffy clouds of sugary goodness and while the French Quarter was kind of boring, she thought it might have been worth the trip just to try one of those awesome pillows of fried sugariness. She stood in the blazing sun of Royal Street for another few seconds, debating if maybe she should have gotten some of the light, doughnut-like pastries to go. No; she decided firmly against it. Her stomach felt like it might literally explode any minute now and frankly, she knew that she didn't have the self-control to save them for later.

Plus, there was no way that she was down to go back inside. Beignets were good, but she wasn't sure they were good enough to get her back in there so soon.

Going into Cafe Beignet had been like fighting through a zoo or trying to go anywhere in Disneyland. The place was super tiny and filled to the brim with people. Besides, she _lived_ in New Orleans now, right? She could come down and get a beignet any time she wanted, assuming she could figure out the parking situation a little better.

She had actually _driven into_ the Quarter this morning, assuming that maybe she would find parking somewhere in the heart of it or that there would be parking garages or something. There was barely any public transportation in New Orleans, so she had logically assumed that meant that there would be parking. That had been the kind of mistake that you don't make twice. She was from San Francisco, she thought she knew what treacherous driving areas looked like but the moment she had crossed into the Quarter she had been met with streets so narrow that they put everything she had ever known to shame. It had been a sea of mix matched one-way streets and so much foot traffic that she was sure she was going to accidentally mow down a tourist. She had driven back out feeling like a cat that had tripped and fallen into the pool.

A little terrified after that, she had parked not only outside of the Quarter but completely across the street from its entrance at the local visitor center, willing to pay the fee.

Beca shoved her hands into her jeans pockets, debating what to do next. She had been casually walking around the Quarter for the last two hours and, a shiver of guilt ran through her, she was _so_ _bored_. She shouldn't be bored; this was the French Quarter for freaking sake but - she was.

She yelped as something hard bumped aggressively into her calves and turned to see a red-faced lady glaring. Beca ripped off one side of her huge headphones and finally heard the shout of: "'Eya, excuse me, lady!"

"Oh. Err, sorry." Ducking to the side, she let the huge triple stroller leave the cafe behind her; all three of the children inside covered with a fine dusting of powdered sugar and screaming their heads off. "Sorry!" She called again, "My – my bad." The words trailed off awkwardly when she realized that the woman wasn't listening to her at all.

Yeah, that right there was kind of her point. The Quarter was all moms and tourists in awkward too tight tank tops and far too short of shirts with a light smearing of sunscreen on their cheeks. She had never seen so many house dresses in public, nor seen so many kids on leashes.

Actually, if she were being honest she wasn't sure why she had come down to the Quarter at all. She wasn't looking to get drunk. She didn't want to have her fortune read by a phony psychic in the middle of the sidewalk, who would swipe her Visa with their _iPhone reader_ and then proceed to charge her ten bucks a minute. The street performers were cool but those weren't new. As a matter of fact, she was sure that the men who painted themselves in gold had actually ripped off the guys _in_ San Francisco. So…She didn't know but best she could think was this was supposed to be the city of music, right? Where were the street bands and the solo guys with their lonely trombones or _any_ of the other things she had always assumed she would find in the streets of the New Orleans French Quarter?

Agitated, she checked the time.

It was still early. She hadn't gone to the French Market yet but she thought she might save that for another day. After all, she had only left the house to avoid being bored while unpacking and now, she sighed, now she decided that she would head back and start unpacking to avoid being bored and a little bit lonely in the Quarter.

Somehow this day didn't exactly feel like a total success.

She supposed she had come down because this was the French Quarter after all and that was what you did when you were a new transplant. Move to San Francisco? Go see The Golden Gate. Move to New York? Go see Lady Liberty.

This was one of the biggest tourist spots in the country, right?

If she was being honest then she would have to say that she had thought the cultural divide between San Francisco and New Orleans wouldn't have felt quite as wide as it did. Both areas were well known for being unique, right? But Beca was beginning to feel like she had not only moved a few thousand miles, but also was now on some strange festive alien planet where they sold King Cake flavored vodka, it was moist outside always and freaking everything citywide was in shades of green, purple and gold.

With a sigh, she started off down the road, not completely sure if she was going the right way to get back to her car but also not that concerned if she wasn't. She reached the corner and grimaced as she had to step over a splattering of trashed crawfish heads and tails, all clearly twisted, sucked, eaten, and discarded. She couldn't help but to feel like her point had just been made when, before she could step onto the opposite side of the curb and get out of the way of a freaking _horse_ _drawn_ _carriage_ (what the actual fuck) she had to step over another foul-smelling pile of dead crawfish bodies.

Gross! There was literally a trash can right - she stopped herself before she could start a mental rant and moved on. Whatever. She got that it was a local delicacy but she was pretty sure she would never be touching those, even if they were sold freaking _everywhere_.

She headed in a straight line up the road, touching the side of her headphones so that Saul Williams reached a pleasurably deafening level.

The thing was, even though she was leaving now, she was just going to have to come back down here as soon as possible. Her first hired gig for the city was in just over a month; a firework show with a 'NOLA' twist, and then less than two weeks after that she had the Bastille Day celebration to figure out the music for.

Which was terrifying.

And it shouldn't be.

But it was, which was driving her crazy.

Beca understood jazz.

She shouldn't be worried.

She understood it well.

In her sophomore year of college, she had been forced to take a jazz appreciation class and she had found much to her surprise that she had loved it. She loved the way it broke every single rule and did whatever the hell it wanted to. She loved the way it seemed to rebel against every mold, cutting a place for itself in history whether history wanted to deal with it or not. It was her Freudian passion and she was a connoisseur. She also understood composing, producing and all of that. Basically, she understood _music_. It was in her blood, it was a part of her. The problem was that jazz and the music scene in New Orleans was different than anything she had known before. This jazz, no matter where it was being played, just did not look like jazz everywhere else and _all_ of the music out here was jazz influenced. If she wanted to understand it then she pretty much needed to soak up as much as she could and as quickly as she could.

She was still thinking about that when she broke through the edge of the Quarter, blinking at the sudden openness, a big contrast to the wall-to-wall buildings she had been walking through. It took her a second to figure out where she was and then, mind still occupied she started toward the Basin Street parking lot.

The building she had parked in front of was huge; large enough that approaching it pulled her from her stress filled worry about the upcoming jobs. This was basically the city welcome center, right? She should go in. You know, in the effort of that whole soaking it up thing. For a second she wavered. Walking alone through crowded streets was far less awkward than wandering around in a museum type building. Walking through something like that alone was like walking with a huge sign over your head that read 'I have no friends!' But, she needed to be good at her job. She _had_ to be good at her job, not only because anything less would be unacceptable to her but because she needed gigs. Officially she was contracted through Mardi Gras World so she would always have a job during that one time of the year. However, all the smaller gigs throughout the city, how many of those she got would depend entirely on how well she did her job. And if she didn't get any of those, then there would have been no reason to relocate. And she needed to be sure that choice had been valid.

So, she needed to research.

The place had the hushed silence of a library, which was odd because everything about the inside was soundlessly loud. She walked through the front lobby and into one of the side rooms, surprised by its silent chaos. It was strangely cluttered for a room so large, filled with scale models of trains, paintings, photos of jazz singers and musicians. A little taken aback she wandered through room after room, studying maps and designs explaining the levee, reading plaques on famous trumpet players, shuttering at photos post Katrina. She even took a second to look over the scale model of New Orleans, just large enough for a Polly Pocket to live in, that was modeled after the city in the days of yore.

Alright, this wasn't helping the boredom. Or the soaking up thing. So, where did you go to learn about music? She was getting frustrated. Had she just come on an off day or was all of that 'naw-lins' loves music crap an inaccurate portrayal of the city? This just _wasn't_ what she wanted or needed.

It wasn't that this place wasn't cool because it totally was and everything, but it was kind of like seeing a drag queen out of makeup. Some things just weren't meant to be seen in broad daylight. She was simply going to have to get out and start stalking the Quarter at night, not that she really wanted to get puked on or flash her boobs. She sighed. That was how she was going to find all the underground jazz/brass clubs so she could ingest as much of the music that New Orleanians expected.

Resigned she turned, ready to head back to her apartment and its boxes.

So far, nothing was making her like this city any more than she had thought she would.

Across the huge ballroom-like lobby a large red sign caught her eye. 'New Orleans French Quarter and Cemetery Walking Tour', it read in bright festive lettering. She had seen signs like this all day, advertising various tours through the city and had passed a few earlier. She had noticed at the time that it seemed pretty cool, the guide had been taking them around and giving constant facts.

Was this what she needed? She might learn something, right? That was the whole point of being down here and if nothing else, she could get the guide alone for a second and see what they had to say about New Orleans music. That might even get her some insider information about where to go, something less touristy and more honest.

A crowd was already forming under the sign, mothers and children, bored looking teenagers, and a handful of professionals in their business casual clothes trying to pretend like the stiff materials they were wearing weren't making the hot day unbearable.

What else was she doing? Besides, you know, unpacking her whole fucking life and working and anything besides going on this tour. In the spirit of procrastination, she rolled her eyes and stepped up to the desk just to the left of the front entrance.

"Hey." She gave the brunette there a cursory smile. Jesus, that was a lot of cleavage for a family friendly visitor center. "How much for the tour?"

"Twenty-five for a two-hour tour," the woman recited, not looking up from the already pristine nail that she was filing into shape.

"Um, 'kay." She debated, amused by the absolute absorption the woman behind the desk was giving her nail care and the serious lack of attention she was giving Beca. "One...I guess."

"Great." The brunette's long fingers began to clack against her keyboard. It wasn't until she looked up to take Beca's debit card that she actually looked at her. The response was comical. Instantly the impassiveness in the woman's face cleared, a large flirty smile popping onto her lips and, after a moment of staring, she gave an appreciative little finger wave around her file. "Hi."

Beca wasn't sure but she thought somehow the woman had even pushed her obvious cleavage up a little higher. "Err, hi?" Beca chuckled as the woman did something on her computer and swiped Beca's card, eyes barely leaving Beca. She smirked right back, never one to shy away from a pretty girl, even if the look on the brunette's face made her feel a little bit like a mouse in the eye of a snake.

"Alright, here's your ticket. That's your group there." The woman gave her a wink. Her chin propped up on her fist, she continued to study Beca thoroughly, appraising her in a way that Beca knew well. She recognized the does-she-sleep-with-women-or-just-like-dark-eye-makeup-and-Converse stare down. She got it a lot. That was fine with her too since her own level of gay depended on the day and, more importantly, the company.

She thought about clearing the issue up for her. After all, she didn't exactly _know_ anyone in this city and this chic seemed, well a little like she might be crazy but also like she might be fun - and might up Beca's level of gay to grand marshal in a Pride march with how hot she was. Then Beca's wariness of crazy sunk in and she shook her head at the woman, chuckling. She had already done the crazy chick thing. She had already earned that badge and had also learned to avoid them. Also, maybe finding a date was not exactly what she needed to be focusing on right now. There was also that.

In a force of networking habit, she grabbed a card for the tour and went to join the queue, leaving the brunette to decide whatever she liked about her romantic tastes.

The brunette just openly watched her.

This city was weird. The people were weird. This wasn't just her, right? The people she had met thus far were weird.

Her amusement over the woman's staring was just beginning to turn to discomfort when she heard a voice from the front of the crowd call out, "Is this my tour? Yes? Okay, awes! Well! _Bienvenue au Vieux Carré!_ Or, for those of you who have _no idea_ what I just said: welcome to the French Quarter!"

Beca craned her neck, trying to actually see the person who would be leading them but, seeing as how she was barely over five feet, crowds were her kryptonite. She tried to look this way and that and all she saw were the backs of the people in front of her.

Great.

She swore a little and with one last mildly curious and mildly uncomfortable look back at the busty woman behind the counter, she pushed through a crack in the crowd of people.

"I'm Chloe, and I'll be your tour guide! Alright, this tour is roughly two hours so I hope everyone brought their walking shoes! What I'm going to do is stand here by the door, go ahead and hand me your ticket and I'll give your hand a stamp. Then we'll be on our way. Let's move fast, the day is a-wastin'!"

Beca had to elbow her way past a behemoth of a man in a freaking cowboy hat, but after that she finally had a clear view of their tour guide. And she was glad she did. Suddenly the boredom that had been plaguing her for the last few hours vanished and she was a little more interested in this tour.

Pretty.

Very pretty.

Hot.

Crazy hot.

It occurred to her, she was probably looking at the wrong person. Right? This woman didn't exactly look like a tour guide. Her outfit wasn't very official or anything; just a pair of boyfriend jeans, Keds, a white tank top, sunglasses and a wool sun hat over deep red hair. Beca glanced around, looking for someone with a clipboard or something. It would be her luck to follow one person because they were pretty, only to discover that she had been following someone random and was completely lost in this city that she had just moved to.

"This way, guys!" The apparent tour guide called. Beca shrugged and got into line, realizing that shit, she was going to have to approach this chick.

Crap.

Overall, she wasn't one of those people that was uncomfortable or bad at talking to beautiful people; at least not anymore. She had spent too many years working with San Francisco and Los Angeles elite and had built up an immunity. She was usually fairly indifferent to whether or not someone was interested in her, which face it – that is what the awkwardness was about - and when you didn't really care much then all social awkwardness usually went away. More fish in the sea or something like that.

However, she did have this one slightly weird problem. It only happened every now and then - but it was steady enough that she lived in fear of the response. Sometimes a very pretty someone would turn and smile at her and Beca would open her mouth, expecting her usual cool, calm, charmer self and instead would say something like, _'your face makes me happy'_ or _'have you ever tried cheese?'_ She always walked away from those moments wishing that she could be abducted by aliens right then. It was like her mind was comfortable with the fact that she was no longer worried about talking to people, but wanted to be sure that she knew that it could take that skill back at any moment and leave her as the awkward, strange, and snarky teenager again. It was an annoying reminder that no matter how old you got, no matter how much you matured, that awkward teenager that you hated all your teen years was always alive somewhere within you.

Which was great.

She hated that _thing._ Guys didn't really do it to her. She liked guys too; she really did, but that special kind of _stupid_ was usually saved for women with the kind of beauty that would make ancient Greeks envious, not so much the dolled-up models or the hippie DJ but real women who could put those others to shame.

Kind of like this woman.

Just don't say anything. That always was the best solution. Don't say anything at all, Becs. Problem solved.

Lips pressed tightly together, Beca thrust her hands into her jeans pocket with difficulty, trying to grab her ticket as she watched the person before her get stamped. She stepped up, ready for her turn and - shit – fuck - she was _stuck!_ She gave a yank, mentally swearing and screaming as, for those two seconds, she was unable to get her hand out of her pocket. Those dark lenses turned on her, waiting and, starting to blush, Beca yanked for a second time. So, she wasn't going to say anything stupid, but she was going to stand here like a creepy man on the BART with her hand in her pocket.

Shit, it was her ring. It was caught on a loose thread. "Err, sorry, I-"

"Go! Goooo! Move it! Gooo!"

Already a little embarrassed, Beca jumped, her hand ripping free, as the man behind her gave a loud huff, heckling her as though they were children and Beca was holding up the line for the slide. She was so startled that she barely noticed her hand getting stamped, or heard the insistence from the tour guide that no one was in a rush. Annoyed, she stumbled into the outside heat, scowling.

Dick! That hadn't been stupid or embarrassing enough? Assface! What the shit, dude?

Grumbling, she found a spot to wait under a tree where she could avoid some of the heat and stood there glaring at everyone in an embarrassed silence while they waited for the rest of the crowd to finish up.

"Everybody, right this way!" The tour guide strolled from the front doors. "Follow me, we're going to start by heading into the French Quarter and then we'll make our way into the cemetery after our break, alright?"

Maybe it was leftover annoyance from the heckler but she sighed. She had literally just freaking left the Quarter. A little surlier she fell to the back of the crowd, resigning herself to at least another hour of wondering why the hell she bought a ticket to do something she had already been doing.

* * *

At least it was mildly interesting, Beca had to give the guide that. The tour guide - whose name she had forgotten – kept stopping them and pointing to this building or that; telling them about famous architects, heists gone wrong, movies and shows that had filmed there, and general New Orleans superstitions. She told the stories with the flair of someone who knew their facts well and had an honest passion for the subject. Still, Beca found herself following without enthusiasm, her attention perking when she heard something about music, only to dull again quickly. It wasn't until they stopped in front of a large mansion that Beca started to really listen.

"Shit. My bad. Sorry," she awkwardly mumbled. She hadn't been paying attention and had just bounced off the man standing in front of her.

Her mind had been on steel drums. She knew a lot of the NOLA jazz didn't exactly use them, but she was pretty sure she was going to go out for a gig putting together a new fight song for a local drum line. Steel drums would be interesting.

The man she had run into gave a loud scoff and without looking behind him he flicked his shirt as though wanting to get the dust off of it. "Excuse you." He ran his hand over his fuzzy hair with the careful precision and arrogance of a one hundred percent douche bag.

Distaste filled her as Beca realized that it was the man who had told her to 'move it' before. With an open and dry glare, she stepped around the last few people so she was on the very edge of the group with a clear view of the mansion and of the tour guide.

The guide really was pretty, she couldn't help but to notice again. Her strong jaw, high cheekbones and full heart-shaped lips seemed to be accentuated by the huge sunglasses hiding her face. She moved with a determined grace, as though she knew exactly what she wanted to do and was going to do it, but you were going to have fun as you went. It was kind of sexy.

Beca cleared her throat and quickly looked back at the building before she could get caught being a total creeper.

The redhead gave the group a huge smile, waiting for them to settle before she said, "So. How many of you here saw 'American Horror Story: Coven'?"

Beca looked around blankly as a few hands rose.

"Amazing! That's great!" She cheered, beaming at them and high-fiving the closest person to her. "Well, while they didn't exactly portray an _accurate_ version of this story, you guys will have heard of this house behind us." She gestured to the large and boxy gray mansion with pomp. Clearly this was a big stop on the tour and Beca could see why. The house, with its numerous darkened windows and clearly unoccupied rooms left you with the distinct impression that something bad had happened there. Beca rolled her eyes at herself, or maybe that was all in her head and it as just an empty house.

"We are standing at 1140 Royal which means that this very large house is the infamous LaLaurie Mansion." A few of the tour goers gasped, a few looked excited, some pulled out their phones and snapped photos while others like her just looked at it without recognition. "If you guys will scoot back so that everyone is on the sidewalk, I'll tell you one of New Orleans' darkest tales." The tour guide grinned like she absolutely couldn't wait, her eyebrows waggling. The attitude was infectious and though Beca didn't even know her, she found herself smiling as well. Looking back at the darkened building, the woman gave a dramatic sigh before she said, "Our story starts in the early 1830's when a Creole woman by the name of Delphine LaLaurie, and her four daughters from previous marriages, moved into this house with her new husband, Dr. Louis LaLaurie. I think it can be said that the reason why so many of us locals are so fascinated with this story is because of how much of it is shrouded in mystery. For example, as it was, Louis was Delphine's _third_ husband and though the story starts in the 1830's with their move here, there is an untold one that began long before with the mysterious deaths of both her previous husbands." The guide gave a dramatic little shudder, "Louis must not have been too concerned though, because despite that fact, they moved in here together in 1830."

Beca couldn't help but to chuckle at the flippant little head shake the tour guide gave as if to say _she_ would never be caught doing something so foolish.

"Not long after the LaLaurie's moved in they began throwing these extravagant parties once or twice a week. Only the crème de la crème were invited and because of this, it was not long before they were the toast of New Orleans society. In fact, these parties became a staple in the local nightlife. Both Delphine and Louis were charming and well spoken, very easily liked, their house was furnished with the very best, and the food served could be called nothing but exquisite. If you were invited to a party here, then you were honored and you came without a second thought." She beamed, pausing to smile for a few people who were snapping her photo as she spoke. "However, suspicions about the couple, and more specifically Delphine, began to bloom only a few short years into their life here. Party-goers began noticing that the slaves in the mansion were beginning to look a bit pale and run down. They were reported to be malnourished, bruised and above all, they seemed to be _afraid_ , specifically of Delphine. There were many reports of the slaves fleeing when Delphine showed any temper."

A woman two people away from Beca shifted and gave a small huff, tossing her hair unhappily. Beca glanced at her, like everyone else did, but despite herself Beca was a little too engrossed to pay attention.

"But, of course, people just laughed their worries off. I mean, why wouldn't they? Delphine was a young and beautiful _woman_ , there was no way anyone needed to be concerned. As a formality, a small investigation was eventually held, in which a man of influence came by the house to talk to Delphine about the slaves. It is said that he left absolutely laughing, positive there was no way that someone so charming and beautiful could harm a fly, and with plans to bring his wife for dinner a few days later. Suspicion never really had time to settle however since within a year of the investigation something happened that made all eyes suddenly turn to the LaLaurie's."

Beca yelped as a crowd of people walked behind theirs, the push of the crowd shoving her suddenly off the curb. This area really was too small for large groups like this.

"You okay?"

Beca flushed under the tour guides attention and nodded. Had she really just made that noise? Great. Super great. Not embarrassing at all.

The redhead nodded back at her and with a smile, continued her story.

"It was a beautiful spring day when suddenly the neighbors were startled by a high pitch _scream_ issuing from the LaLaurie courtyard." A few of the tour goers gasped, caught up in the story. "Of course the neighbors immediately ran over to see what was wrong and if they could help. What they stumbled on was absolutely chilling. Lying lifeless on the stone floor of the courtyard was a young teenage girl and there above her all the way up on the roof was Delphine, a whip in her hand. No one knew what had happened but Delphine just stood there, staring down at the girl and seemingly entirely unmoved by the gore in her courtyard. Legend has it that she looked for a while and then turned and walked back inside." The guide paused, her lips trembling as though she might cry. "As it later was discovered the teenage girl had accidentally hurt Delphine in some small way. Some reports say she was combing her hair and caught a tangle while others say that she was carrying a tea tray and tripped, spilling the hot liquid on Delphine. Who knows which, but what can't be denied is, enraged by whatever had prompted her, Delphine had then chased the young girl through the mansion until they ended up on the roof where the girl, desperate to get away, leapt to her death. As you can see," she turned and gestured to the side of the house, "that was quite a fall. It is known that Delphine was questioned, however any transcripts of that talk were either bought or perhaps just destroyed. After that, though, the eye of suspicion never really left the LaLaurie's again and needless to say the neighbors were a bit more wary." A smattering of chuckles floated up from the group but most stood, not reacting, mouths slightly agape as they listened. Seeing that, the redhead gave a small smile of satisfaction and moved on. "Well, it was only a year later that everything fell apart for Delphine and Louis and this is where our tale goes on its head. One evening during a routine party the guest began to smell smoke. Now, it had been less than fifty years since the great New Orleans fire, so needless to say the guests reacted very quickly, having grown up on horror stories of fires and the death they bring. See this little offshoot back here?" She asked pointing to what looked like an adjoining sun room in the back. "That little room originally was the kitchen. Often in grand houses like this the kitchen was off to the side or not connected to the house at all."

"Why?" A man behind Beca interrupted.

"Well, the idea was that if I fire were to break out, it would do less damage. I can't stay it was a fool proof plan, but it was what they believed at the time. Anyway, it was quickly discovered that the kitchen was aflame and, rather bravely I think, a handful of men burst in to help. What they found was horrible. In the kitchen a woman was chained to the stove, maniacally laughing. With a little prompting she told them that she had set the fire, saying over and over in this insanely happy way that 'they weren't going to get her up there now'."

Another audible sigh jarred Beca from the story, making her look around. A few people down her eyes fell on the profile of the honey blonde, the same one she had noticed a few minutes before. Slightly distracted for a moment Beca studied her obviously annoyed face, trying to decide if she was correct that this woman, like the guide, was classically beautiful. If she was, then it was marred at the moment by the sour-grape expression she was holding. Jesus, New Orleans was clearly the place to go for beautiful women. The woman was part of the business casual group, though she was more business and less casual. It was clear that something about the story was bothering her immensely. Which wasn't all of that surprising, even from the one glance Beca could see that this woman was dressed far too nicely, far too professionally for the Quarter and her hair was pulled back into a knot so tight that it looked like any more pressure would make it snap like an overly taut rubber band. Her lips were pursed, her arms crossed. She looked like the kind of person that Beca had always dreaded getting gigged out to because you knew no matter what she would always find a way to take issue with something, whether it was the music, how it was being presented or how it was being stored and labeled. The tense woman was staring daggers at the tour guide but the redhead didn't appear to notice or perhaps she just didn't care because she continued to smile and go on.

"Of course these men were shocked!" She said, "They couldn't imagine where 'up there' meant but if there were people somewhere in the house then, of course, they needed to help them! So a few of the burliest men started up the stairs to the attic. Half way up they were hit with a stench like they had never smelled before. Worried, they approached the attic door, only to find it padlocked, which was strange. One of the men went back downstairs to Delphine and Louis to get the key, but was told that they needed to forget about that because it wasn't important and to please save their belongings. They had gathered a team of people to help pull the most valuable things from the house and didn't seem all that worried about whatever was behind the door. The men couldn't just ignore what the woman had said however so, not having a choice they broke the door down and walked into a nightmare." She paused, cheekily looking around the crowd and gauging their reactions. Beca laughed, rolling her eyes a little with everyone else, anxious for her to continue. She was quite the storyteller.

"They say that when the door was opened the smell was so strong that one of the men fainted dead away. It was immediately clear that some type of illegal and torturous experimenting had been happening on the LaLaurie slaves in there. There were slaves chained to the walls, to the bed, to surgical tables, many of them looking like something from a horror movie. Along the walls were men and women bathed in honey and covered in bugs, as well as a women with her skin decoratively peeled back and maggot infested. A man and a woman were strapped to one of the surgical tables, mid an interrupted and crude sex change operation. And there is even said to have been a woman whose bones had been broken and reset at strange angles so she had to move in this grotesque way like a crab. The smell was coming from the slaves, yes, but also from the buckets of blood, discarded body parts and feces that were everywhere."

"Oh my god," a girl next to Beca muttered.

The blonde's head whipped around, nostrils flared, eyes wide and furious. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her back straight and stiff.

The girl shrank back as far as she could to get away from the glare, eating into Beca's personal space and she couldn't even blame her. She would have been intimidating no matter what, her gray eyes piercingly bright, her face pretty enough to make you wonder about your own; but with that scowl there, she was a human representation of Cujo.

"I won't go into the more graphic details but the scene was unlike anything they had seen before. Of course the slaves were removed, many of them so afraid that they fought and a few of them so close to death that they didn't even make it to the ground floor before passing away. The men who discovered the room of horror were naturally in an uproar and once word spread about what they had found, the LaLaurie's guests began to turn on their hosts, turning into an angry mob. Now. It was said every evening at six o'clock Delphine got into her carriage and went for a drive. Where she went, I can only imagine, but at that point the crowd noticed the LaLaurie carriage was approaching the front of the house. The crowd rushed for it, of course, needing to stop Delphine and make her pay for these terrible crimes. Before they could reach her, however, she and her husband are reported to have stepped into her carriage, given the crowd a jaunty little wave and then simply rode away. Though the crowd tried to catch them, the LaLaurie's were never seen in New Orleans again."

Beca blinked, feeling like she had just stepped from a dark movie theater and into the hot afternoon sun.

"The house, however," the guide continued, "immediately began to gather suspicion. Horrible things had happened there and though the house was now empty, people began to grow uncomfortable. Walking up and down this very sidewalk day or night it was reported that you would hear loud shrieks, screaming, crying, and many voices speaking ungodly gibberish. It wasn't until decades later that, while undergoing renovations, the house floorboards were ripped up to expose many fully formed skeletons. It turned out that Delphine had been burying her slaves alive under the house and those cries that people were hearing were actually cries for help, probably often spoken in their own native tongues. To this day the house is considered haunted, however. It has gone through many hands and had many remodels done and yet people have reported seeing a teenage girl in the courtyard, a man in the lower floors and an angry woman roaming the house. There was even a time when this house was apartments and a woman called the police hysterical because she had just seen a woman dressed in old-fashioned clothing standing over her baby's cradle. It was reported that the woman was choking the infant and when she rushed forward the woman disappeared."

The angry blonde made another slightly impatient noise, and, as though she couldn't stand it any longer, her hand finally shot into the air. "Hi, I'm sorry, hi," she spoke before the guide could acknowledge her, making Beca look away to avoid laughing, "but hasn't a lot of that story been _debunked_?"

Though Beca thought maybe she was trying to be polite, somehow she wasn't quite hitting the mark. The man standing beside her, the rude one Beca had already met, gave a huge eye roll and a huff, his head lolling like he just couldn't stand the sound of her voice.

The tour guide just let out a little laugh of her own however, once again entirely unaffected by the woman's hostility. "Oh you know this city; there is so much here left up to mystery! Who's to say what's real? Of course there is much more to the tale, but it looks like we are running short on time! Alright y'all, we'll stay here for a moment more so you can get some pictures and then we had better _get_ or we'll be late!"

Immediately a few people swarmed the guide, requesting photos with her and Beca frowned around herself, feeling distinctly awkward. She glanced around at everyone paired off with friends or dates and wasn't sure what to do or where to stand. She hated that feeling, it was like not having pockets in your pants; you then spent the entire night awkwardly trying to find somewhere to put your hands.

She checked her watch, maybe it was time to abandon the tour and head home. Yeah, the cemetery was still coming but she looked up and found that the tour guide was looking at her, or at least she thought she was behind her glasses. Beca's heart did a little stomach flop as the woman smiled and though Beca had decided to leave, she instead found herself leaning against the wall and waiting, her phone out so she at least wasn't standing there like an idiot.

There were a few more stops on their tour, a pharmacy that was known for being haunted, a building famous for its architecture and a shop where a movie Beca had never heard of had been filmed. Finally they approached a stylishly dingy bar and the guide waved her hands to get everyone's attention, "Alright guys, this is where we are going to take our break. This is the infamous Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, considered to be one of the most famously haunted bars in the city. That, however, is a story for a different tour and if you want to hear it then you will have to come track me and my 'Haunted History' tour down." Beca could swear the woman had just winked at all of them from behind her lenses. "So, let's all meet right back here in front of this sign in fifteen minutes! Awesome! Have fun! Try the hurricanes! Ronnie's are the best in the whole city!"

Beca watched everyone split off, some moving away to light cigarettes, some disappearing inside. She stood for a moment, torn and then decided that it would be less weird for her to go inside. So she followed the masses and took a seat at the bar. "Hey, um, give me whatever is your favorite from the tap." The bartender nodded and moved across the bar.

"Hey!" Beca turned to watch as, with a smile, the tour guide took a seat beside her, pulling off her hat and sunglasses. "Are you part of my tour? Oh!" The redhead reached over and took her hand so she could examine the stamp, "I guess you are! Are you liking it?"

Beca wasn't exactly anti-touching. It was more that strangers didn't often touch one another for absolutely _no_ reason, like this, and she was perfectly satisfied with that. This casual touch threw her because as innocuous as it was, she hadn't expected it at all. It took her a second to screw her head back on correctly enough to laugh, roll her eyes internally at herself, and say she was indeed having fun.

"Really?" The guide tilted her head in question, "Because you seemed bored most of the time." Giggling a little she passed her hand in front of her face, "Like, totally blank, zombie kind of boredo-"

"Okay, okay, I get your point there, lady." Beca scoffed, pulling the woman's hand down but secretly pleased that the very pretty woman had noticed her - until she reminded herself that she had noticed her because she seemed bored. That brought on a scowl. She wasn't _noticing_ her; she was noticing that someone on her tour looked like she had been debating going home for ninety percent of it...which was true. "That's kinda just my face."

"Aww," the redhead frowned. "Don't say that! You have a very cute face."

Beca gaped. "Um, thanks? I think?"

The guide beamed at her. "Ronnie, can I have a glass of water please?" She asked, checking that the alarm on her phone was properly set. "What's your name?"

"Beca."

"Hey Beca, I'm Chloe. You in town for vaccay?"

Before Beca could respond the bartender came back with her beer and a glass of water for Chloe. She took it and paid, a little disappointed to see that once she had done that the bartender had pulled Chloe into a conversation about something that had happened the night before on a tour, some sighting of some man named Jean.

Beca watched them talk out of the corner of her eye, debating with herself. She liked the energy of this woman. Sitting next to her was like sitting next to a space heater for the soul. She was one of those people that was so bright that she warmed everything around her. God damn it, _why_ did she always go for that? Why was sweetness like her freaking kryptonite? Her stupid freaking ex-boyfriend had been like that too. He just gave someone that stupid dorky grin of his and suddenly they were dating him and caring about him. Sweetness was a thing for her and sweetness was radiating off of this woman like a gentle perfume.

Plus, she snuck a glance sideways at the animated guide, her eyes sliding from her face down to her hands that were casually cupping the glass. Maybe it was just a San Francisco thing but Beca was a firm believer in the thumb ring rule. She had seen it play out time and time again and this woman, much to Beca's delight, had a small silver hoop around her right thumb.

She was sweet.

And she had a thumb ring.

Beca was going in.

"So, Chloe -"

But fate was apparently not on her side. Chagrined she frowned as, before she had Chloe's full attention, the agitated blonde and Mr. Asshole stepped up.

"Hi." The newcomer's voice was high and honeyed, but just like her large smile, it was a little too tight as though perhaps the sweetness was a little forced.

"Hello!" Chloe grinned up at her, sipping from her drink.

"I just wanted to come over and thank you." Beca scowled, realizing that the douchy guy with her was smirking at Beca, smirking in a way that everyone knew. Ew. Beca turned on her seat, facing the bar again as the blonde continued, "The tour has been...very interesting."

Amused and a little surprised she glanced back at the blonde, amazed at the way she had said interesting and yet was able to make it sound like the tour had been a total waste of time or even offensive.

Chloe let out a laugh though. "Thank you! That's so sweet! But it's my pleasure, you don't have to thank me."

"No, no," the man said, a bit too loudly, bordering on obnoxious, " _she does._ She _has_ to thank you, otherwise she might," he shook his head, "explode into a ball of high strung type A tension and become a black hole or something."

Beca let out a dry scoff of surprise, staring open mouthed at the blonde, whose lips had pressed into a thin line.

It took Chloe a second to pull her eyebrows down out of her hairline and when she did she just let out a small, "Uh, o-okay." She glanced at Beca, the look on Chloe's face reading quiet confusion.

Beca couldn't blame her. She had no idea how to respond either.

"No," the blonde's back straightened all the tighter, shooting a death glare at the man beside her, " _I_ was just raised right." She plastered a smile on her face again so quickly that Beca saw Chloe blink a few times, squinting like she had a bright light in her eyes. "And I was taught that you always thank the host." She held out a long, politely manicured hand, "I'm Aubrey."

"Chloe. Oh, and this is Beca! She's on the tour too."

Beca looked up surprised and nodded to both of them before hiding again in her drink. She didn't like the way the guy was watching her.

"So anyway, thank you. The tour has been very nice." The blonde gave a nod, went to turn away and paused, "I did," and now she cringed, already politely apologizing for her words, "however have one thing I wanted to say."

"Okay," Chloe nodded with a soft smile.

"I don't want to be - _controversial_ but -"

Suddenly the man let out a rude noise, his head falling back on his shoulders. "Oh great, heeere we go."

Aubrey continued as though he had never spoken, "I took issue with a few of the things you said in your story about the LaLaurie mansion. Actually, if I'm telling you the truth, which I feel I need to do, I took issue with the whole story, really." Chloe's mouth fell open a bit in bemused silence. "The house is such an important and beautiful piece of history. I hate seeing it get slung through the mud that way."

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked, her head tilting to the side just a bit.

"Well," Aubrey clicked her tongue and gave a nervous laugh, "the stunning _lack_ of facts in your story makes it so that it is not a history but a smear campaign."

"Uh, wow." Beca mumbled, glad she had turned back around and was no longer facing them. She had to admit, she was a little impressed at the woman's gall. This was like confronting the teacher and insisting that the answer given for number twenty was wrong. It was ballsy and she couldn't help but to smirk a little into her drink. She looked up into the glass behind the bar, trying to catch a little of whatever was happening beside her. Instead she accidentally looked right into the face of the idiot guy. He winked and Beca looked away fast.

Chloe pursed her lips tightly, her eyes narrowing a bit for just a moment before she said, "Well, I'm very sorry that you did not enjoy the story."

The blonde shifted, obviously uncomfortable and yet she continued, "It just seems like a shame to spread a story that is so completely inaccurate," and she sighed as though the thought made her want to cry.

A smile snapped onto Chloe's face so fast that it was mildly alarming. "But how do you know what I said is not at the very least partially true? You said twice now that there was no truth or fact to the story I told, but I can't help but to wonder why you feel that is true." Her voice was as kind as ever, but Beca was willing to bet she was working for that effect now.

Aubrey gave a small titter of laughter that was all at once kind and yet entirely demeaning. "I have _two_ degrees in southern architecture." She said it with obvious superiority, her mouth open ever so slightly as she gestured to herself with an unconscious twitch.

"I see," Chloe gave a thoughtful nod, her bottom lip jutting as she thought. "And what does that have to do with the history of Delphine?"

Beca hadn't thought that the question was unfair but in the glass she could see Aubrey took clear offense. "The house and its occupants were discussed at great le-"

The man beside her had clearly had enough. His head began to suddenly and aggressively shake and with a bored moan he reached over, cupped the blonde's face and shoved her back a foot or two so he could step in front of her. "Ignore egghead here,"

"Chad!" The blonde yelled, startled to the point she nearly toppled.

"Are you kidding me?" Chloe bellowed, moving to help but Beca had spun, grabbing the blonde's arm before she could fall. It turned out that the shove hadn't been hard enough that she needed the assistance. Still she gave Beca a small nod of thanks, her cheeks bright red.

"Chad?" The man looked around confused; no more than a moment had passed since he had shoved his companion away. "Chad? Who's Chad? I don't know a Chad." He settled beside Chloe, his fingers steepled, "Hhhhhiiiii, I'm Bumper." Sucking air in slowly he gave Chloe a long once over, " _Yooouuu_...are really trying for this whole New Orleans hipster hot thing a little hard, aren't you?"

Chloe, whose focus had still been on the blonde and whether or not she was alright, looked down at her casual jeans and tank with mild alarm, "Um."

Beca let out a snort. She wasn't really a violent person but after every single interaction she had with him that day, she was considering decking him. Bright blue eyes turned on her, a little confused at the sound and Beca made a face, turning back to her cup as she muttered a small, "Sorry." The tour guide just continued to look at her like she wasn't sure how to respond to the two people in front of her.

"And you," Beca's eyebrow popped up when, what was his name - _Bumper_ \- turned to her, "might be the smallest person alive. It's cute, in a terrifying gremlin kind of way. Was that a personal choice or -"

"Dude, _what_ is your _damage_? Like, are you kidding me right now? Is that what's happening?" That had been bitchy, like super not nice and everything, yeah, but any guilt she would have felt at being so rude melted when the woman behind him - Aubrey - gave her a small and surprisingly pretty smile.

It made her cheeks warm all over again.

Bumper, however, seemed entirely unfazed by her rudeness. He gave a thoughtful nod, scratching at his hairless chin. "You know, I actually think I will. Being around you three, yeah, it's making my stomach feel a little weird. Too much estrogen or something so um, later losers," and he turned and walked away.

"Yeah, I can see how being around women might be unusual for you!" Beca called back, receiving two middle fingers before he disappeared out the door.

The three watched him go, equally sour looks on their faces. Finally, Beca and Chloe turned back to his companion, waiting to see if she was coming or going.

"I'm sorry about that, he's -" but then Aubrey's words just faded away, replaced by a mournful look. "Anyway, what I was saying was, the LaLaurie Mansion,"

"Wow, you don't give up, do you?"

Aubrey glanced at Beca but just continued without interruption. "The mansion is known for its architecture so I've been happily forced to study it over the years. It's beautiful and yet it's only known for this story. This false story."

"Well," Chloe gave her a small tight smile, "horrible things did happen there."

"Of course, yes. That is true, the LaLaurie's were monsters who did terrible things but there is little evidence to support the story you are telling." The blonde's hands clasped together tightly and she gave another little laugh that sounded more like a polite tick. "As a matter of fact there's almost no documentation for it."

"Perhaps that is true, at least partially true, but that's hardly a reason to assume it's false since most documentation does not go back that far, at least not police records, which is what we would need to confirm the story, right? So, my question for you, Aubrey, is -"

"No, the records don't go back that far but there were eyewitness accounts and newspapers. None of those support the story that a girl jumped from the roof, nor that the horrible abnormalities you described were found. There is no proof anywhere that Delphine did anything other than starve and beat her slaves."

"And try to leave them for dead." Chloe pointed out.

"Yes, and try to leave them for dead."

"And perform experiments on them."

"No! Other than what we already said the whole story has been embellished!" Beca could feel the sheer force of will that Aubrey was pressing on Chloe, trying to get her to admit that she was right. The fact that Chloe wasn't backing down was making the blonde agitated, and she was growing more so by the minute.

"How can you say that? There are hundreds of stories supporting these ideas. Books, papers, websites; where did those come from if-"

The pushy blonde cut her off again, "All things that didn't bother to be fact checked but if you follow the story of her life through _documentation_ then it paints a picture that is very different. For example, no bones were ever found when the house was remodeled and it was remodeled in the seventies! It would have been reported! Delphine's two previous husbands did not die mysteriously. One had a heart attack while on a ship to France while the other had known pirate connections that could explain his disappearance!" She checked them off on her fingers. "There is no proof of anything else. She was a monster yes, but not in the way that you painted!"

"How can you say that there is no proof of any of it? This is New Orleans, we are very passionate about our history and we know it well. Of course some things were left up to _speculation_ but," she gave a small groan as Aubrey cut her off again.

"It's not _history_ if it's made up stories! That is not history that is - art."

The redhead's mouth dropped open as if she had been slapped. "I'm not sure which I find more offensive, your distaste for 'art' as you say or essentially being called a liar!"

"No, no, I'm not saying that you're lying exactly," she said in a slow and openly patronizing voice. "I'm just saying that the story has been -"

" _Embellished_." The guide had been trying to keep her polite tone, it was clear. She had been trying hard but it was beginning to wear away at the edges as the blonde's words got sharper.

"Right. _Embellished_. Most of the things that you said could not have even happened! There was a law-"

"Right," Chloe jumped in this time, her arms crossing, her eyes narrowing, "the Code Noir. I know. It stated that while you could own slaves, you could not mistreat them in any way that was outside of the norm. And before you try and explain it to me," Chloe said, a bit louder than was needed in an effort to stop Aubrey's near interruption, "allow me to explain what that means. That means any unnecessary damage was considered illegal so while whipping, caning, and secluding your slaves was completely legal; anything beyond such as experiments, starving them, sexually abusing them was not. It was punishable by law. Though often enough The Code Noir was ignored completely, here in New Orleans it was followed rigorously thanks to stanch city leaders and a want to pass on the attitude to smaller townships." The blonde blinked, her mouth open again. "I never said that anything Delphine was known to have done was legal or acceptable. And I resent being accused of doing so!"

"Excuse me, but that is not what I am doing!" The sweetness had left the voices of both women now, turning instead to outrage. "The fact that you know all of this is almost worse! Telling a story when you know it is not correct is how history _gets lost_. That is unacceptable!"

Beca was starting to wonder if perhaps she should step in here soon. She had no idea what to say to quell the fight between these two strangers but people were beginning to turn and look at them now, drawn to the hostility. She glanced at the bartender and saw that he looked like any moment he was going to come for the blonde's blood which, this chic was being totally crazy and maybe it was the shove she had received, but Beca didn't want her to hang by noose that she was creating for herself. She also was not really down for her to keep coming after Chloe so, "Um, guys,"

"Well, as a _historian_ ,"

"Historian!" Aubrey scoffed with a showy eye roll.

"and a historian in a city like this one," Chloe continued, "I would have to say _you're wrong_. It's our folktales that keep us alive as a culture and denying that is spitting in the face of all that we know! Our folktales are how we pass our history down generation to generation. Art, it may be, but history it also is. It's people like you who will never understand that. It's sad."

The blonde hissed, her neck lengthening, "For serious?"

"Yes. I truly believe,"

The blonde scoffed over her, "Why are you being such a bitch about this? I know for a fact -"

The tour guide's eyelashes fluttered for a second, her mouth falling open, clearly as surprised as Beca was and then she exploded. "Oh I see. So, there is a reason that y'all are together here." A sudden southern twang flowed from the redhead's mouth in her agitation as she pointed between the blonde and the door where Bumper had disappeared.

The blonde's eyes had widened a bit after she had said that, her apology obvious. Now, venom dripped as she started to snarl, eyes flashing. "I-"

"Ooookay!" Beca jumped from her stool, putting up her hands between them, absolutely positive that things had just gone from very bad to ugly. "That's kind of enough now. Guys look, you both have legit points, but maybe this isn't exactly the best place to duke it out. Come on, the tour is going to start again soon, right?"

Neither of the women were listening to her though. "If you're this unhappy with the tour, _lady_ ," Chloe bit, her chin protruding with open attitude, "then I can say with reasonable confidence that if you head back to Basin Street Station they will happily refund you! Just tell them Chloe told them to." Chloe's face wasn't sweet anymore. As a matter of fact, Chloe looked like she was going to deck Aubrey soon.

"I will and I will have to leave a performance review while I am there too! Your attitude is appalling!"

"Be my guest!" Chloe was off of her seat in a second, the alarm on her phone finally signaling the end of the break. "Excuse me. I have a _tour to finish_." The redhead pushed by Beca with surprising softness for someone who seemed as though she wanted to hurt something, her hands falling to Beca's arms, giving her wrists a quick squeeze. It made Beca blink, a little dizzy and disoriented by the kindness.

She and Aubrey both watched her until she was out the door in a swirl of titian hair. Beca's heart was beating a little hard, her mouth dry. Jumping in between the two of them had felt a little like pushing herself between two hissing cats. They both stared for another second or two, reorienting themselves before Beca turned stiffly back to Aubrey, completely wary. Beca's hands shoved deeply into her pockets and gave the blonde a thoughtful once over. It was clear already that Aubrey was _mortified_ about what had just happened. Her eyes were still flashing and her lip was still curled back just as sharply and yet there was also something else there, a deep seeded humiliation. Something in Beca's gut said that perhaps this wasn't the first time that this had happened and that, as angry as she had been, Aubrey hadn't meant for it to go this way. That was interesting, for sure, still, anger won out and Beca found herself clicking her tongue, "Really? Like, really? Was all of that _really_ necessary?"

Aubrey's mouth opened, trying to find words but none seemed to come, her look slightly panic stricken. It seemed that the woman had nothing to say so with a small head shake Beca just started outside.

* * *

A quick thought. I have found a few mistakes (liked dropped words or so on. Things that happen when editing) and I have fixed them. But I only did so on AO3. So head over there if you want a slightly cleaner story!


	2. Chapter 2

I forgot to mention:  
I think a lot of us have a head canon that Aubrey is tall and long, more in the Alexis/Haiz category but in reality Anna Camp is only 5'5. Which is ironic. I'm 5'5 and I've been made fun of for being short always. But. For the sake of the visual in this story, let's pretend Aubrey is like 5'7 or so plus heels.

* * *

 ** _Beca_**

* * *

Beca had to really fight with herself as she stood in the sun, watching the crowd gather outside of the bar. She had, for the most part, wanted to get out of there before, bored and annoyed. Now she _really_ wanted to get the hell out of there. She wasn't sure the rest of the tour was worth being the third leg in this awkward party. People who had been in the bar kept craning their neck around to look at her as if her face might give more insight into what the hell had happened. Which was annoying. Because it wouldn't. All it did was make her dig her sunglasses out of her pocket and try not to be noticed at the very back of the crowd. She heard the clicking of heels and watched as Aubrey crossed in front of her, her eyes pointedly looking away as she settled to the far side of the group. Seeing the way that people stared at her at least made Beca feel a little better since they were looking at Aubrey like they wanted to shun her from the tour. Someone bumped into her from behind, nearly sending her reeling and with a glare Beca saw it was Bumper. God, what kind of freaking name was Bumper? He hadn't seemed to notice her though, too busy on his way to Aubrey, looking gleeful.

"Goooood job, Pee-Bree." He held his hand up for a high-five and when she looked resolutely the other way, he clapped her on the shoulder. "Have I ever told you that you're super good at making friends?"

The blonde gave a loud huff and marched to the other end of the group. Bumper just laughed, sipping his very blue drink and sending Beca a wink.

God, Beca didn't know which to pity more, Aubrey's obvious mistake in the bar or her terrible taste in men.

"Sooo, yooou,"

Beca blinked. In the few seconds that her mind had drifted Bumper had approached.

"Uh, sorry," Beca muttered, "but I gotta go literally anywhere but here," and turned away walked as far as she could get from both Aubrey and Bumper.

"Alright, is everybody here?"

Beca grinned a little as she listened to Chloe at the front of the group, that twang still surprisingly heavy for someone who had not sounded that way at all the first half of the tour. The guide seemed to notice the difference too because she paused, took a deep breath and said in a clear, twang-less voice, "Is everybody ready? Alright, let's go!"

* * *

Beca couldn't help but to watch Chloe and Aubrey ignore one another throughout the rest of the tour. She supposed she couldn't blame them - or at least she couldn't blame Chloe for openly ignoring Aubrey – who had apparently decided to finish the tour. The problem was that it seemed he rest of the tour goers were struck by the same thing and though Chloe spoke, half of the group was busy either watching Aubrey or Beca or looking between the three of them in a way that let Beca know that it wasn't Thomas III they were concerned about.

And it was awkward. Though if that was awkward then it had nothing on the times when one would accidentally catch the other's eye. Beca would look over, her eyes moving without her permission, and would find herself looking at Chloe. That wasn't so bad, Chloe smiled and Aubrey ignored her but any time that the two of them would catch one another's eye, things did not go quite as well. Even as she spoke, Chloe's lip would purse into an angry pout and Aubrey's eyes would go wide, her nostrils flaring. At that point all ambient chatting with cease and they would all look between them like hungry lions waiting for a fight.

Still the tour continued on, out of the Quarter and into the cemetery.

The cemetery was not what Beca had expected nor like any she had ever seen before. There were no rolling green hills with delicately placed headstones but instead a large cemented space filled with above ground tombs and cemented in coffins. Slightly disconcerted by the creepy factor of graves above the ground, she followed a few people behind Chloe, fully aware that the unreasonably angry Aubrey was right behind her.

That fact was a little uncomfortable, kind of like swimming and knowing that Jaws was just chilling behind you in the water.

"This is the oldest cemetery in the entire city and it holds some of the most influential burial spots in the world." Chloe smiled at them, ignoring a whispering duo to her right. "This cemetery is the resting place of Etienne de Boré, Homer Plessy, Marie Laveau and there are even rumors, thanks to a plaque that was found in 1841, that _Mad Madame LaLaurie_ was snuck back and buried here after her death." At this Beca wasn't the only one to crane her neck around to see how Aubrey would respond. As a matter of fact, it seemed as though the entire tour stopped to look between them.

" _Also debunked_ ," Aubrey mumbled, completely and totally unapologetically.

Chloe just smiled, polite as can be, whereas Aubrey glared back at her with open fire. Beca chuckled, strangely amused – but purposely stepped to the other side of the group and out of firing range – just in case.

"As you can see," Chloe flashed the group a smile while her eyes avoided the left side where Aubrey was just as pointedly avoiding her, "New Orleans cemeteries are not quite like everywhere else. Why? The land was and is still swampy. Between the constant threat of flooding and the tombs sinking, they decided to start burying their dead above ground. Come with me!"

Beca followed as Chloe continued, telling them all about the levee construction. "The cemetery is divided into three parts," Chloe announced, her words growing slightly huffy as people were clearly still more interested in the drama. "Catholic, non-Catholic, 'negro' or 'gens de couleur libres' - free people of color."

"So, she just thought she told the story bad?" A woman between Aubrey and Beca whispered to her friend, her eyes on Beca. All three women, Beca, Chloe and Aubrey turned to glare at them and the two snapped their gazes away.

Maybe she should say something? Would that make this worse or better? She wasn't sure but this was getting to be kind of stupid.

"And this," Chloe announced a bit too loudly as they stopped at a worn tomb covered in scribbles and surrounded by Mardi Gras beads, full shot glasses, and other small tokens, "is the tomb of the infamous Marie Laveau." This finally seemed to draw people's attention back to Chloe a bit. "How many of you have heard of Marie Laveau?"

A few hands rose and while Beca had indeed heard of the woman, her hand rose a bit, people turned to look at her and her hand planted itself firmly back in her pocket.

Right.

This wasn't awkward at all.

"This is easily the most visited spot in the entire city." Chloe said. "For those of you who don't know, Marie was and still is considered the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. It was said that if you had a problem, or an illness you could go to Marie for a little gris-gris or Santeria and you would be cured. She was known as the deliverer of wishes and dreams. To this day people come and bring gifts to her tomb for that reason. The rumors all vary but it is said that if you draw three X's on her tomb she will grant you a wish. Now, some say you need to knock, some say you need to turn around three times, but whatever the tradition people still place their hopes on the Voodoo Queen."

Beca followed as Chloe was already beginning to move again. She couldn't help but to notice that Chloe's answers were a little less thorough now than they had been before the break. She didn't know a lot about New Orleans history but even Beca knew there was more to the Laveau story. Were they running low on time or was it that people seemed far more concerned now with the drama and Chloe wanted the tour to hurry up and finish? Either way Beca was surprised as to how quickly she found herself standing in the mercifully air conditioned lobby of the welcome center again.

"Thank you so much everyone for taking my tour, I hope you enjoyed yourself!" Beca scoffed and was treated to a very high arched eyebrow from the guide in return. "Be safe driving home, and if you are going to head into the Quarter for a few drinks then please drink responsibly. The police here don't have a lot of patience for much debauchery. No vomiting, no disturbing the peace, and absolutely no flashing! Okay, have a great time! Thank you again!"

Beca hung back at the edge of the crowd, her nerves high. She had literally wanted to go home since she had purchased her ticket for the tour hours ago and now, when she was supposed to she found herself hanging around the front entrance, her stomach in knots. After all of - _that_ she had to say _something_ to the tour guide. She could see her, standing next to the desk of the predatory brunette and trying to pretend that she wasn't affected. She kept smiling at the other woman, and even laughing a little but Beca could see tension around her eyes and her hands kept tirelessly fluttering to her throat and rubbing it, a clear nervous tick.

Beca glanced around, pleased that it seemed like her notoriety was wearing off. She didn't see Aubrey anywhere, which was great. She must have taken off as soon as she could. Slightly encouraged by that, she waited for the crowd to thin a little more and then started up to the redhead. "Hey, just wanted to say thanks. That was kinda crazy, but -"

The sound of high heels on wood made her turn.

"Shit." The word had just popped from her as she turned.

Aubrey paused mid step, thrown by Beca's blurt. "Err. Hello."

Beca froze, fully aware that she really hadn't helped anything, with a slightly apologetic frown, "Shit. Sorry. My bad. My-" but then she shook her head, deciding it was better to just shut up.

Aubrey's face was sharp, but when she spoke she sounded a little less harsh than she had before. "I," she paused, her throat working for a moment, her eyes closing as though she was trying to center herself. It made Beca want to reach out and make sure she was okay. This chic was clearly crazy but at least she seemed to feel bad about her craziness? She didn't know. "I want to apologize for that little FUBAR," Aubrey finally went on.

FUBAR? Beca frowned, and a FUBAR was…? She glanced at Chloe, but apparently the other woman knew because she didn't look confused, she just looked tired and very much like she didn't want to start another fight.

The outer shell of the blonde cracked for a moment and through a fissure Beca saw her shift, her power stance breaking as her eyes grew mournful. " _That_ is - that is something I do every now and then and -" she cleared her throat again, "I apologize. It's unnecessary and something I never mean to do. I can be - controlling and abrasive and," she paused again, nodding a little to herself as she studied her fingers. It was like all confidence had faded from her and suddenly Beca felt terrible. Which was weird. It was weird to feel bad for literally both of them in this situation and yet somehow she did. "Anyway," Aubrey looked back up and the gentleness that had been there was gone. "I was wondering," she smoothed her shirt a little, taking a second, "I was hoping that you might allow me to buy you lunch as an apology. Are you free?"

Eyebrows high, Beca glanced back at Chloe, curious if she was going to give in or if she was going to bite her head off at the stem. It seemed, however, that the obvious discomfort the blonde was feeling was disabling to the redhead. Chloe shifted in place, her face hard but slowly beginning to soften as time clicked on and the silence between them grew thick and uncomfortable.

"I would," and Aubrey's voice cracked just a bit, "I would like very much if you would allow me to buy you lunch to apologize. I was out of line."

Chloe's face softened a little more and it seemed like that bothered her a bit. She shifted in place, all but writhing as no one spoke. Finally the weight of the silence seemed to be too much for her because she deflated. "Okay. Yes, that would be nice."

Beca wasn't sure if she wanted to applaud her or if she pitied her.

Aubrey just gave a small matter of fact nod, "And you?"

Beca jumped as though someone had poked her in the ass with a pin, "Oh! Me too? This is for me too?" Her gut reaction was a strong one. _Fuck. No._ There was no way in hell that she was going to willingly put herself in that situation. Hells no.

…Only, she began to twitch and writhe as well, suddenly understanding why Chloe had given in. Aubrey's sharp gray eyes, once they were turned on you were hard to resist, especially when you could see that little drop of embarrassed desperation in them. She wanted to do something nice, that much was obvious.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

She had no interest in going. She didn't want to say yes literally at all.

She knew she was going to say yes far before she finally said it and then once she did, she too deflated. She glanced once again at the guide and exchanged a nervous look with her.

Well…

What else was she doing today anyway? Also, she couldn't help but to notice that she liked the small relieved smile that Chloe gave her.

"Good." The blonde gave a firm business like nod and Beca rolled her eyes, amused and exasperated. This was so the type of woman who didn't have any friends in grade school but instead spent every recess scheduling her third-grade homework in her Trapper Keeper.

Something about the awkward stiffness of the blonde was almost amusing. Like, if they were legitimately friends then Beca knew she would love to teasingly poke the bear and see what happened.

She also thought there was a good chance that this bear might bite her finger off.

"What up, biznatches? What are we waiting for?"

Beca was already shaking her head, "Nope." She had tensed and beside her she felt Chloe do the same, also vehemently shaking her head too. "No way, if he's coming to lunch then I'm out." She felt Chloe look at her and immediately cried, "I'm sorry, but he's an asshole!"

Chloe's hands went up in surrender, her kind face twisting, "I'm not arguing."

Aubrey spoke so quickly that it was almost as though the thought abhorred her too, "No, he's not!"

"Ooooh noooo," he whined, his face stricken, "miss lunch with yoooou guuuuys? Oh nooo!" He scoffed. "Yeah, hard pass."

Beca watched him, scowling. She had met a lot of assholes in her life, who hadn't? But this guy -

"Whatever! I'm gonna go make some lucky lady's dreams come true. Peace!" He paused, his head jerking a little Beca's way.

"In your dreams, dude."

He scoffed, obviously offended, "Like you have anything better to do, lesbo," and he started off back toward the Quarter.

Beca's frown grew, had that just happened? She covertly glanced at Aubrey, rethinking lunch. She was so not about to go out with someone who was all pissed because of what her boyfriend had done. Damn, she had a terrible taste in men.

"Um," finger out and pointing after Bumper, Chloe asked in a carefully impassive voice, "Did your boyfriend just ask Beca to have sex with him right in front of you?"

"Dude!" Beca cried, rounding on Chloe. That was not a helpful question at all.

"What? _No!_ " Aubrey jumped, her voice a little too loud, her hands going out like she was about to grab them. Beca, always a little jumpy and a little afraid of being hit, shrank back but Aubrey's hands had frozen in place in panic. "That's my idiot brother! No! Oh god, no!"

Chloe was still frowning after Bumper. "Well that's something then."

* * *

It turned out that Aubrey was new in town as well and so didn't feel as though she could recommend a place to go. "I've been here for three months but I have spent that time focusing on my business and my house. I rarely leave." Aubrey had said, looking far more vexed than the situation warranted. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Hey, it's okay!" Chloe insisted, patting Aubrey's arm and then, seeming to think better of it, pulled away quickly and checked the time on her phone. "How about a po' boy?"

Beca and Aubrey exchanged blank looks.

"Oh!" She beamed at them, "Come on then, newbies!"

They went in a straight line down the street, Chloe in the lead, Aubrey following and Beca, very nervously, bringing up the rear as they walked the one block it took to get to the restaurant. Beca had to wonder if Chloe had simply chosen the closest place in hopes of having this done and over with quickly. Beca couldn't blame her, and if anything kind of was glad.

"Eeeeey, Chlo!" Someone called as soon as they walked in.

Chloe waved, "Hey, Jim! How's Claire?"

"Oh, she's up and about, kickin'!"

"That's great! Hey, Josh!"

"Hey, Chloe!"

It was clear that everyone in the restaurant knew their guide, all giving her warm open smiles and one or two people catching her in familiar bear hugs.

"You a regular here?" Beca asked with a chuckle.

Chloe just gave a noncommittal shrug, "We can take a seat anywhere." She gestured ahead of them and they both paused, as Aubrey stepped forward and chose the table. Beca and Chloe exchanged a cagy look and then sat down as well.

"This is interestingly decorated," Aubrey noted stiffly, looking at the paper napkin like she wasn't sure what it was used for and then placed it carefully in her lap. The paper made a rough sandy noise as she flattened the cheap material and Beca had to duck and pretend to be scratching a leg to stop from laughing out loud.

This woman had no freaking chill.

"Oh yeah, the owner is kind of an oddball. He's super sweet but - he walks to the beat of his own drum." Chloe said it as though she couldn't give him any higher praise.

"I see." Aubrey gave one tight nod, settling into a stiffly upright pose that Beca didn't think could really be comfortable or frankly maintained the whole meal. Then again, she rolled her eyes a little to herself, something told her that this woman would find a way to maintain it forever if she decided that she wanted to and propriety dictated it.

Silence fell thick between them for a moment as they all searched for something to say. Chloe's mouth popped open but then it just hung there, Beca blinked a bit too rapidly while Aubrey began smoothing the napkin again. This was so strange. At least when you went out with new friends or coworkers it was awkward but you all had something in common. These two were literal strangers to her.

"So um," Beca tried, scooping up the menu, "what's good here? You wanna tell us what that po' boy thing was?"

She was rewarded with the menu being quickly snatched from her hands. "Do you trust me?"

Beca's eyebrows shot up both totally entranced and totally mistrustful of the intense way that Chloe's pale blue eyes were trained on her. "Um," she stumbled, "it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I've never had anything trustworthy happen after someone asked me if I trusted them."

Chloe let out a peal of laughter and even Aubrey cracked a smile. "Okay fair enough. Sooo, how about this?" She asked with the innocence of a playful kitten, "Let me order for you?" Beca could swear she just even went as far as to flutter her eyelashes like a little teenage flirt. "As a local I know what is awesome and what you _have_ to try."

Nervous, Beca glanced at Aubrey who looked like she would rather leave than eat something that someone else ordered for her. Still, Chloe was smiling at them so excited that Beca thought it might have been cruel to deny her, as much as she wanted to. "Um, okay, yeah sure."

"Great! Be right back."

Beca watched Chloe walk up to the little window, wondering if she realized that Aubrey had not agreed. As a matter of fact, Aubrey looked like she was trying very hard not to let it show that her brain was about to melt out of her ear. Her eyes, so striking, were a little too wide, her mouth open in dumb shock as she stared after Chloe. Loss of control was clearly not something this woman valued.

"You're going to love it!" Chloe beamed at them as she sat back down.

"Right." Aubrey said slowly, staring at Chloe as though Chloe had just taken her pants off in public.

"Aubrey?" Beca asked. It was funny but she was starting to worry that maybe she wasn't actually okay.

Aubrey jumped a little and her face wiped suddenly and yet purposefully clean at the sound of her name. "I'm sorry, perhaps you can remind me of your names again."

They took a second to briefly exchange names and then they all ordered a drink. If there was literally ever a moment for alcohol in the middle of the day then it was this.

"So, Chloe." Aubrey started, "How long have you been a tour guide?" Both Chloe and Beca looked at her, distrustful. Aubrey's lithe hands came up in a carefully polite surrender, "That was not a dig, I'm just trying to start a conversation."

Chloe sipped her drink, "About five years now."

"And were you born here?"

"Nope. I was born and raised just outside of Houston, Texas."

"Explains the accent." Beca chuckled.

"Oh!" Chloe blushed. "Yes, I guess it does. It happens when-" she glanced a little guiltily at Aubrey and then away again, "anyway, I moved here for my undergrad when I was seventeen and I stayed. I love it here. This is my home. I've lived here now almost as long as I lived in Texas."

"Where did you go to school?" Beca asked.

"Loyola first, then LSU and now I'm working on my Ph.D. through Tulane."

"Wow," Beca laughed, "Yeah, that's – that's school alright." She had always been proud of her alma mater, the San Francisco conservatory, but Tulane was no freaking joke.

"And why did you start touring?" Aubrey asked, continuing the job interview feel of the moment.

Chloe shrugged, idly playing with her straw. "No specific reason, really. I just have a lot of information I wanted to share and Basin is amazing but I am not actually required very often. It's fun."

"What do you do at Basin?" She wasn't entirely sure if that was where the tour had begun or not.

"I'm the historian on staff. I'm there just in case someone comes in needing to know something about the city whether a tourist, a politician, or an author."

Aubrey was spluttering into her drink, "You're one of the _city historians?_ "

Chloe grinned, a little smug, "Yup."

Beca scowled, glancing between them. Okay, so this chic was smart. Awesome.

"One of the _city historians_?"

Chloe grinned at Aubrey, far too sweet and far too brightly to be anything other than victorious and Beca realized that she was thinking of that dig that Aubrey had made as though there was no way Chloe could be a _real_ historian. She was beaming with smug pride and Aubrey looked a little like she wanted to disappear.

"So, I guess this is kind of a big deal job?"

Aubrey, the picture of mortification, was the first to answer and when she did her voice was soft, "Yes. Yes, it is."

"I didn't really mean to become a city historian," Chloe laughed. She was still eyeing Aubrey and something about her look there, Beca couldn't really explain, it made her feel as though she needed to look away. She picked up her napkin and coughed into it. "I actually started with a degree in literature but one thing led to another and now I'm working on my third degree about the city."

Aubrey gave a dry laugh of surprise and took a drink of her water, finally breaking whatever had been happening between the two of them.

"Are you only at Basin street?"

"Officially I'm contracted through the parish. There are three of us that are stationed around the city and two that are stationed out on plantations. Sometimes we trade locations but it's easier if we just stay where we're assigned. That way people can always find us."

Aubrey set down her glass, her face poised. "Chloe, if you are one of the city's _historians_ then why do you -"

Chloe let out a laugh and in it there was no malice. " _Aubrey_ , I know all the proper history just like I know all of the folktales but people pay almost thirty dollars per ticket. They don't want to hear that Delphine ran away for a few years and then came back to live happily until she died, right alongside the neighbors that supposedly wanted to kill her. This is New Orleans, people like the spooky Cajun flare. Still, I took and take issue with your points! Just because there is little in the way of a paper trail does not invalidate the story! That is exactly how history used to work!" She shook her head as she said it, gesticulating wildly and passionately. "At one time everything was a tale passed on by word of mouth and while this means that sometimes the stories are bogged down by religious affectations and ideology or perhaps a few things have been stretched, it also means that we are lucky enough to have a link to the first hand story! Haven't you ever wondered why this story above all other has gained such a reputation? Haven't you wondered why these rumors started and where they came from? If history teaches us anything it's that there is a sliver of truth in every rumor."

It seemed that Aubrey had little to say to that. "I'm sorry, I-"

Chloe shook her head, "It's okay. I understood your point. Next time maybe just be a little nicer about it? It never hurts to be a little nicer." She gave Aubrey a wink.

Aubrey's eyes narrowed, "You're not angry with -"

"No, I am. I'm mad, for sure. But I reckon it's pointless to sit here and be mad. Anyway, enough about me. You both said that you just moved here?"

"Uh yeah," Beca started, "like a few days ago even."

"For work?" Aubrey asked.

"Mmm, yeah, Mardi Gras World. I-"

"Wait!" Chloe suddenly flung her hands out like she was about to take on a speeding car, making both Aubrey and Beca jump. "Let's not."

"Um," Beca glanced at Aubrey beside her, a little baffled, "What – exactly – are you talking about?"

"Let's not do that whole stranger thing." Chloe said as though this explained everything.

"Um," eyebrows pulled down tight, Beca watched Aubrey shake her head, still just as confused as she was.

"Yeah, what she said," she gave a nod and crooked her thumb at Aubrey.

Chloe beamed at her, seeming to enjoy Beca's dryness and making Beca's stomach go all warm. "I just mean, let's not do the thing where we sit and go over jobs and things like that. It's not important, right? Let's not have the whole formal interview thing and instead, I don't know, let's just - talk about movies or sports or our favorite types of tea. Let's not do the whole _thing_. It will be so much more romantic this way."

Beca had been sipping her drink, now she let out a snort of surprise, gasping when it threatened to shoot from her nose, " _Romantic?_ " Romantic as in – like – romantic? What? Had she freaking missed something?

"Yeah!" Chloe grinned at them and then, finally seeming to understand the looks on their faces gave a little laugh. "I don't mean romantic as in _romance_ , flowers and sex. I mean," she took a daydreamy big breath, "I mean like 'Anne of Green Gables' romantic. It just makes for a better story. Meet as strangers and leave as strangers. It's like a movie."

Beca glanced vaguely at Aubrey, looking to share in a 'what the fuck' stare but Aubrey's eyebrows had released and she was smiling in a way that almost surprised Beca in its honesty.

"I loved those books as a girl." Aubrey must have noticed Beca's surprise because she glanced down at the table to hide her face a bit while the silly smile faded away. "I grew up on those and Pride and Prejudice."

"You did?" Chloe was grinning again, leaning forward as though this was all she wanted to hear about in the world. "Which book was your favorite?"

Aubrey thought for a second, that smile back, the one that looked like perhaps Aubrey couldn't help it. "I don't know. I think," she gave a little nod, "the first."

"Really?" Chloe gasped, sizing her up.

"Yes, I think so."

Chloe sat back, that look that she had given Aubrey earlier was on her face again, like she was reading her soul, "You are full of surprises, Aubrey."

"Um," Beca cleared her throat, "what are we talking about?" She was getting the feeling that Chloe was gathering some deep psychological information about their lunch mate and she wished she knew what it was.

It was a long moment before Chloe pulled her eyes away from Aubrey; a moment where Beca was sure that she had decided something about the blonde. When she was finally looking at Beca though, she was smiling. "It's this book series about a little orphan girl who moves in with this crotchety older woman and her brother." Chloe toyed with her straw again, swirling it through her drink, "It's so funny because Anne is this adorable little daydreamer who can't keep out of trouble and can't keep her big mouth shut. She's always just a little bit out of control. I think it's interesting that Aubrey likes them so much. What did you grow up on, Beca? Were you a reader?"

Beca's mouth opened but she paused; the thing about once being a moody teenage loner was that she had a lot of time for reading. "I don't know if I was a _reader_ , but I definitely read. I dunno, I grew up on Harry Potter and The Hobbit just like everyone else."

Aubrey made a face, "I never liked 'The Hobbit', or any of Tolkien for that matter. It was all too - artsy and imaginative."

Beca and Chloe laughed, "Well, it _was_ fantasy!"

"I loved 'The Hobbit'." Beca blinked, feeling like she had just been released from a hypnotist's grasp. Okay, so what had Chloe just learned about _her_ in that long stare down? Apparently something fascinating because she was smiling again as she added, "It was always so dark and creepy and kind of crazy."

Beca gave a nod because she didn't know what else to do. She still wasn't sure what the difference was between 'romantic' and whatever version Chloe meant but she was going to go with the flow. This _was_ kind of nicer than the whole what do you do and why thing.

"Alright, here you go, ladies!" The man Chloe had called Jim carried over three plates filled with large sandwiches and french fries. "Enjoy!"

Beca wasn't sure what she had expected when Chloe said she was going to order for them, perhaps a slight payback for their afternoon. This, however, looked good. "Oh, it's a sub!"

"Basically," Chloe admitted, "Out here we call them po' boys. There is supposed to be a difference of what goes on a sub versus a po' boy but I don't think anyone actually cares or follows that rule."

She felt Aubrey looking at her as if gauging her reaction to this unexpected meal that Chloe had ordered for them.

Chloe thanked the chef and then happily took a large bite. "What's wrong?" She asked, her words a little muffled. "Oh come on, guys! No one is trying to poison you."

"Sorry, uh, just been a while since I let someone order food for me and last time I think it was my _mom_ so umm…" Beca, feeling like she needed to lead by example here, tentatively picked up the food and took a bite.

Aubrey however just stared at her plate, "I haven't had bread in -" she thought for a minute, "two years. And even before that it was a few croutons."

Chloe let out a snort of surprised laughter and even Beca had to smile at Aubrey's confusion.

"How do you not eat bread for that long? How is that even possible?" Aubrey didn't answer so Beca just shook her head. "Live a little, dude." Beca gave her a wink and took another bite, then, to not highlight Aubrey's obvious struggle with the evil Carb monster she asked Chloe, "You said you were still working on you Ph.D., right? Are you doing course work or-"

"No," Chloe frowned, her eyes sparkling as Aubrey took a bite with _clear_ relish, "I've been out of school for a few years now. I'm," everything about the bright Chloe darkened; her shoulders slumped, her smile faded, "I'm mid dissertation right now."

Beca's eyebrow popped in question, her mouth full.

"No," she chuckled but without heart, "No, it's fine. Totally fine. I just, um," Chloe shook her hair out a little as she tried to find a way to explain, "I've hit a little bit of a snag, I think."

"What's the topic?" Aubrey asked, taking a polite sip of water and touching her clean lips with the napkin.

"It's ' _A Modern-day Profile of Folklore and Idiomatic Expressions Within the Vieux Carré'_. Or at least that's its title."

Beca laughed, glancing sideways at the woman who was still sitting stiff as a board beside them, "So, in other words, Aubrey really had no chance when it came to arguing with you." She had said it just to see if she could make Aubrey smile and sure enough one side of her lip twitched. Beca's eyes turned to her plate, her stomach all stupid warm again; liking that she had been able to get that reaction from her. Nothing was better than making an uptight woman smile.

"Not really, no. Or at least, I would have been surprised to learn something new. It does happen though. But wait, we're not supposed to be talking about this!"

"Right." Beca laughed, "Um, romantic and all of that."

Chloe smirked at Beca in a way that made her still happily bubbling stomach do somersaults. Jesus, she was getting as little dizzy.

"Exactly." Chloe nodded.

Beca had expected this meal to be a small torture but as they worked their way through their greasy and delicious food she found that she wasn't miserable. Chloe was funny and kind of freakishly sweet and Aubrey, well, it was clear she was a handful of awkward, stressful tension, but she wasn't quite as bad as Beca had expected and she even thought that maybe there was something likeable under there if someone had the time to dig it out.

"So Beca," Chloe asked as their plates were being cleared away, "This tattoo." Her fingers brushed her forearm sleeve, a smooth rendering of a man sitting at a jazz piano, his fingers splayed over the keys and a cigarette dangling from his lips. Beside him a man was bent, blowing on a trumpet, blowing in the face of a bass player who was slumped over his instrument as if apoplectic with the music. Throughout all of them, molding them together was the cigarette smoke, spiraling and spinning around them like an old-time jazz house. Chloe's fingers traced one of the faces, "Do you like jazz?"

"Mmm," Beca gave a nod, "I do. It's what I do; which," she ducked her head chuckling, "I'm not allowed to talk about but yeah, I guess I do."

"You work in music?" Chloe grinned.

"I do." She was slowly smiling, feeling Chloe's struggle to keep to the no personal details thing.

"What do you do?" Aubrey finally asked. "Is that why you moved here?"

Beca shot an amused glance at Chloe, who was so weird but also so funny, and when it seemed like she wasn't going to complain she went on. "Yeah, actually it is. In San Francisco I was a freelancer who wrote, composed, and produced music for events. So, I was hired by Mardi Gras World -"

"By where?" Aubrey asked from behind her napkin.

Chloe quickly explained about the museum in the Lower Garden district that housed old and memorable floats from past Mardi Gras parades, "You can go on tours and you can even see people working all year long on their floats for next year." She turned back to Beca, her eyes sparkling, "Really? That's so cool! So you-"

"Mmm. I compose music for krewe's as well as main lines and second lines." She knew this was kind of a cool job, or at least she liked to think it was a cool job but the level of excitement Chloe was displaying was making her cheeks a little warm.

"You're kidding!" And before Aubrey could ask Chloe spoke again, "Each float in the parade is made and run by a team called a krewe. Some of them can get pretty famous like Zulu or Nyx! Often big ones start holding their own parades."

"That's who I'm writing for."

"Shut up!" Chloe cried, "You're writing for Nyx?"

"And Delusion."

"Beca! Shut up! That's amazing!"

Beca wasn't sure what to say so she just took a huge gulp of her drink.

"And a main line is?" Aubrey asked.

Beca took this one, "That's the main part of the parade. Usually the floats have their own set of music and in between them there is another thing happening. That's usually brass bands and things like that, which make up the main line. The second line are the people who follow behind them to dance and listen."

"My goodness, there is a lot to these parades, isn't there?"

"Well yeah!" Chloe laughed.

"Yeah so um, I'm one of the people who puts that music together which is kind of crazy complicated because each krewe's music needs to match with the main line behind and in front of them so it seamlessly flows. And it has to be good enough to keep the second line entertained. Not that second lines are really allowed during Mardi Gras."

"And what do you do the rest of the year?"

"The same thing. I freelance for the city doing their other celebrations. I have the fourth and Bastille day coming up soon."

"That's so cool, Beca." Chloe clicked her tongue to emphasize her point, "I'd love to hear your music sometime."

A little embarrassed Beca gave a small nod.

They both seemed slightly fascinated by Beca's job, and the questions didn't stop coming until finally Chloe leaned over, giving in, "So Aubrey, why did you move here then? Was it also for work?"

"Oh, I um,"

But then with a start Chloe looked at her watch and frowned, "Shit, I'm _late_! I'm _so_ late! Oh snap dragon! I have to get back to work. Like, now." She sounded like she was almost sad about this.

Aubrey gave a nod, not seeming hurt that she hadn't been able to share, "I'll get the check."

"This was actually kind of fun," Chloe admitted.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Not what I expected."

Aubrey gave a little uncomfortable laugh and raised her hand, "Hi, can I please get the check?"

The owner who had brought their plates gave a barking laugh, "Are you kidding?" His hand fell onto Chloe's shoulder, "Lunch is on the house for my favorite tour guide and her friends."

"Wait, really?" Beca gawked.

"Awe, thank you, Jim! It was delicious as always!"

" _What?_ " Aubrey asked, her voice a little breathy.

"Yeah, yeah, on the house! You just keep sending people here when they want some eats, Chloe!"

"On the house?" Aubrey repeated, her cheeks going white and then strangely a little green.

"Um, Aubrey? Are you alright?"

Chloe hadn't noticed but the blonde was sitting there beside them having what seemed to be a frozen yet complete meltdown.

Aubrey just looked at her, the gray in her eyes sharp as she watched Chloe rise, " _But_ -"

However, Chloe was gathering her things quickly, "I'm sorry to run, but I really I have to go! I have a meeting at 2:30!"

A little concerned Beca watched Aubrey rise as well, her face growing a darker shade of purple.

Jesus, she looked like she was going to fucking pop.

"Thank you so much for lunch."

"But I didn't-"

"It was really nice to meet you both!" She gave them a wink and then rushed out of the door.

Beca watched her go, a little disappointed that things had been cut short so suddenly. She had liked Chloe…and…thumb ring…damn.

Aubrey was still stammering, her hands clenched tightly.

"So um, are you sure you're okay?" Beca tried, not wanting to stand too close in case the woman was about to detonate.

"What?" She barked, sharply. "Yes! Of course! It's just that - never mind. Yes!"

"'Kay, well, um," she pointed her thumb back toward the door, suddenly a little more wary of Aubrey again. A layer of cold had come off of her while they ate; a thin layer yes, but it had still been a layer. Now her back was straight, her jaw tight and Beca was all about not being there anymore.

"Yes." Aubrey followed her outside.

"Um, so," she wasn't sure what to say here. What did you say to a person you didn't really know when you were about to go your separate ways even though the woman was clearly having some type of heart attack? "You going that way?"

Aubrey smoothed her shirt compulsively and gave a nod.

"Cool, I'm uh," she pointed the opposite direction and then gave a little cough, "So yeah, thanks."

She actually needed to go the same way that Aubrey was going and while ten minutes ago she might have walked with her and endured the awkwardness of not being sure what to say, now she was going to do what she could to avoid that. "It was nice to meet you." She frowned, uncomfortable.

"Yes! You too, Beca, thank you. Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Right, you, uh, you too." And she started deeper into the Quarter, away from Aubrey.

* * *

For those of you who are still wondering what the frick Chloe meant by romantic here is the definition as it pertains to our Anne Shirley.

Romantic: of, characterized by, or suggestive of an idealized view of /  
Synonyms: idyllic, picturesque, fairy-tale; Idealistic, idealized, romanticized, unrealistic, fanciful, impractical, head-in-the-clouds, starry-eyed, optimistic, utopian.

So we're just beginning. This is somehow both a slow burn and not so I'm hoping y'all like it!br /  
Check out my Tumblr. I'm going to post about this story pretty steadily. For example, head over there now and listen to Crawdaddy's 'Momma's Cookin' Gumbo'. It's really the most annoying thing ever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Care Reminder: Talk of death and funerals in the prologue**

* * *

 **Prologue:**

 **Aubrey  
**

* * *

Aubrey couldn't help but to think how funny it was, how ironic. Whenever you saw funerals on TV or in the movies it was always raining. It felt like a cruel joke, like someone other than her brother, some punishing higher power was mocking her for her tears.

She sniffed again, the warm California rain mixing with the tears, and quickly tried to wipe her face clean. The General would not approve of such a show at so solemn an occasion. She needed to stop. She needed to control these tears, she just, she _couldn't_. They had taken her from her home. They had taken the body of her beloved grandmother and they had ripped it away from her home, from everything she had ever known and loved. They had put her in a box and they had flown her the 1,895 miles away to Oceanside, California. They were burying her in a city she had never been to, a city she didn't love. All because _The General_ hadn't wanted to spend any time in New Orleans because the 'city lacked discipline' to arrange for the funeral.

The funeral.

She stared through the water, through the tears, at the long mahogany casket, trying to make her mind understand that her grandmother was in there. She had been rested inside the plush casket, her silver hair up in a bun, her beautiful Chanel dress doomed to fade and mold. _She was in there._ Right? She wasn't going to show up at the door one day, Aubrey wasn't going to get a phone call that read from her caller ID. She was going to fade from her life; slowly, yes, and Aubrey would do everything she could to stop it but eventually she would wake up one morning and she wouldn't be sure of exactly where her grandmother's mole had been, or if it was vanilla she always smelled like or almond.

Gone were the summer holidays, gone were the laughing talks about Aubrey's hopes and dreams over jambalaya, gone was the _only_ person who had ever cared about her, had ever loved her. Would she ever find that again? Perhaps she had already used up all her luck in one person and she would never be _seen_ again.

She watched them begin to lower the casket into the ground and she couldn't stop the tears. Beside her she heard a gruff scoff. Her brother rolled his eyes at her and gave a snort, "Bitch baby."

Aubrey ignored him.

"Come on, Aubrey, _stop._ "

Aubrey still ignored him, letting her tears for her grandmother fall.

"Crying won't bring Mimaw back," he hissed, "it'll just piss off dad."

The words hit home. She was still standing beside her family. Tears were still pouring down her face. She was sure that was something she shouldn't be doing. As a matter of fact, she could feel her father's disapproving eyes on her now. She subtly wiped the tears away, her back straightening.

There were walls she could put up, that she would put up and as she did, as she dabbed under her eyes and pursed her lips, she felt a little better. She felt a little stronger.

'Stiffen that upper lip'; she could feel her father saying and it helped.

When she pushed the tears away this time they stayed away, of course they did. She was stronger than them. _She_ was the one in control, not them. She would save them for another time. She would save them and she would shed them in the privacy of the darkness, into her pillow that night where no one could judge them, no one could use them against her, no one could punish her for them or call her weak. She would wait and she would shed them when she was alone.

Her eyes were still dry when she pulled herself from the backseat of her father's car and started inside. She had never been to this home, at least not before this visit and she was ready to put it behind her. She wanted to get the show on the road. She had things to do. She needed to return to her condo in Boston. She had already turned in her letter of resignation, and while her boss hadn't been happy, he had not complained. After all, he was just as aware as she was that the only reason why she had taken the job was to get better, to work until it was time for her to go and take over _Joie De Vivre_.

She had things that needed to be done.

She needed to sell her condo.

She needed to pack.

She needed to find a moving company that was reasonably priced.

"Aubrey." Her mother stopped her just before they entered the house, her hand firm on her arm pulling Aubrey out of her carefully organized thoughts. The hand closed in a way that Aubrey knew far too well. The gentle squeeze into the soft spot just above her elbow was a demand, 'straighten up and fly right, Aubrey. You're disappointing us, Aubrey.'

"Yes, Mother?" She looked into her mother's face and was startled to see just how well composed it was, just how dry her eyes were. This was her mother. Did she feel nothing?

"People will be arriving shortly," Grace Posen said. "Please go upstairs and make yourself presentable and meet us in the study in ten minutes. The lawyer is here to go over Mother's estate."

Aubrey nodded once and did as she was told. Was this simply the Posen curse? When she was the one standing with her daughter at her mother's funeral, would her eyes be dry as well?

No.

She moved up the unfamiliar stairs and to the guest room she had been given.

No, it would not be that way.

She would not be a mother like her own.

She would hold her daughter and together they would cry.

Aubrey felt little for her mother. She was a stranger to her. She was simply the other person on that side of the dinner table, the sharp whip crack within her father's overwhelming shadow. And yet, she would hold her daughter, and she would cry.

Because that was the _human_ thing to do.

She would not be like them.

Aubrey would be different.

Aubrey would love.

She had decided that a long time ago.

"The proceedings are fairly to the point."

They all sat stiffly beside her father's desk, a polite drink in their hands as though this were talk of a benefit and not the funeral reception of their matriarch.

"I'll start at the beginning."

Aubrey nodded with the rest of the family but her thoughts were not with them. She didn't care to know who got her grandmother's pearls or her collection of silver. Her mind drifted as she sat waiting for what she knew she would hear. She thought of movers, of where she might live in New Orleans, of where she wanted to live. Of course taking over the business meant that her time away from her family was at an end. She had created a life for herself without them, out from under their thumb and now she would be placing herself willfully back there. But that was just the way it went. She would find a way. She wouldn't lose herself. She wouldn't let her family get into her head and make her feel like nothing. She would hold on to the inner power she had found for herself in Boston. Of course she would.

"To my mon petit chou,"

She looked up, "Yes?"

The lawyer's eyebrows constricted for a moment confused at Aubrey's response before he continued on, "Aubrey Posen. Oh, I see. Right. To Aubrey Posen, I leave," the lawyer read, "my beautiful home because I know you will care for it well."

Aubrey's mouth fell open startled. "Her home?"

"That's what it says."

Her home. She had been given her grandmother's home. Her eyes began to prickle, touched. She hadn't thought – she hadn't planned -

"And," he continued on, his voice too jovial, as though he were reading out sweepstakes winnings and not consolation prizes left in place of the person herself. "I also leave you my darling 'Joie De Vivre Painting and Renovations'. Nicolas and I started that company from scratch and it is only fitting that you should take it from here. Love it like I have."

Aubrey nodded. This she had expected.

"What the _shit!_ "

Aubrey didn't flinch. She had expected the outburst too; she was prepared for it even.

Her brother had jumped to his feet beside her, kicking out the chair he had been sitting on, "What the shit? _I_ am the one that was there with the old bat for the last six months!"

"Chad, the business was _always_ supposed to go to me."

"That's bullshit!" He squealed, his voice cracking. "That's bullshit!"

"Chad!" She tried to speak over his rantings, "She all but gave it to me as a graduation gift when I finished my undergrad. We all knew,"

" _What – the – shit!_ " He cried again, pointing at her with both fingers. "She was clearly senile."

"Chad, please,"

"No! I spent six months working with that old bag of Bengay."

" _Chad!_ "

"I did! Not you! I did!"

"I spent every summer my entire li-"

"Would you excuse us," The Generals voice suddenly boomed out, "for a minute, please." Her father stood, his hand clapping the lawyer on the back, "I need a moment to speak with my _rowdy_ children."

Aubrey frowned, not pleased to be put into the same category as her brother who was behaving like a child. She had only been trying to soothe the situation. For a moment the tears threatened to break loose again. She supposed any level of individuality, of care and kindness within this family was now gone from her life, wasn't it?

Where would she spend Christmas now?

Her stomach gave a threatening rumble and Aubrey winced, rubbing it lightly. She had spent the majority of the day before sick. She could not – would not be allowed to do so again.

"Children." Her father turned on them.

"Dad!"

But the General held a hand out and not even her brother had the courage to argue with that.

"I knew of her grandmother's wishes prior to this meeting."

Aubrey said nothing. They had all known that she was to take over the business. It had been planned that way since she was a small girl.

"Your mother, Josh McLaughlin, you grandmother's business attorney, and I have spoken long and hard about this. While your outburst is unacceptable, Chadwick, we have decided that the business should be split between you, forty-nine and fifty-one. After all Chadwick, you have been there with Silvia for these last months."

Aubrey's head snapped up, " _What?_ " Her mouth dropped open in shock. "You can't be serious. Daddy, we have always assumed that I would take over the business when," the words caught in her throat and for a moment she worried she was about to be sick.

"It was also clearly your grandmothers wish that you be an owner."

"Daddy, that was not what grandmother said. She did not say in part! Bring the lawyer back in here to read it again, she-"

"The moment you become hysterical, Aubrey, is the moment you have lost an argument."

"Hysterical?" She parroted back, confused. Was she hysterical?

He gave her a schooling look and she nodded, her eyes falling back to her lap, "Yes, sir."

"You will still be part owner of the business. You and Chadwick will have to learn how to do this together."

She said nothing and her father gave a satisfied nod.

"The house is yours, Aubrey. It did not seem right to sell it."

"Thank you." The words tasted like bile.

"And now, since you two cannot behave like adults, we will continue the reading without you. Aubrey, go make sure the food is ready for our guests."

"Yes, sir." She rose, her heart hammering in her throat.

"Chad, get some air. Lydia Stewart brought her daughter, Jane. Have you met her yet?"

Her whole life.

She had spent her whole life preparing for this.

Chad smirked and her father beamed, "I'll be sure to get right on that, sir."

"She's sweet as sugar, that one is."

She had two degrees in southern architecture for this.

She had interned every summer with her grandmother for this.

She had learned at her side for years.

"Though, if she looks anything like her mother than I might have to bow out, sir. Or put a bag on it."

Her mind was working fast, trying to come up with something, anything to make this better. The business had been left to _her_. The thought - that thought was appalling. How was she going to do this? Chad could not be part of the business for any longer.

"Men don't speak like that, Chadwick. But I assure you, son, she got her mother's charm and her father's looks."

The thought of him being there for these past months had cramped her stomach. She had been terrified he would burn it to the ground. It had been pure luck that he hadn't yet.

She heard a low chuckle beside her and automatically looked up.

Chad's face was radiant. "Ooooooh," he hissed. "I _own_ your ass!"

"What are you talking about Chad?"

"Your ass. It's mine. On a platter. I got fiiiifty-one perccccent!" He half sang, doing a small dance as they left the room.

Her feet froze, shock washing through her. She had assumed – but surely –

"What?"

"You're gonna be like 'ooooh, Bumper, please let me to this or please let me do that and I'm gonna be like _nope_ , because I said so, bitach! Beg!"

"Sir," she had turned before she had given herself permission to speak, "before I go."

Her father sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, " _Yes_ , Aubrey?"

"Sir, the division. It was not even. Who-"

"Don't mince words, Aubrey."

"Who received the majority share?"

Her father, The General Posen, looked at her as though she had gone mad, "Why, Chadwick, of course."

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2 ** _

Aubrey didn't know which thing it was that upset her more: the fact that it had been three weeks now without any resolution or the fact that it had been three weeks and she was _still thinking about it_.

She ran her hand along the old careworn mantelpiece; already picturing how it would look once the renovation was done. The thought of its beauty, of the polished wood, of the small designs being cared for until they stood out as they should, of how beautiful it was going to be, it all made her smile despite her upset.

She needed to stop. She really had to stop. This was exactly what people hated about her. This was exactly what people like her _father_ and her _brother_ hated. She couldn't let things go. She wanted to, badly, but she couldn't stop the thoughts from floating up from the back of her mind, reminding her, poking her in the soft spot of her temple. That had been the worst apology ever! Did it even count if someone else paid for the meal? She was pretty sure it didn't and she couldn't handle that thought.

She couldn't stop seeing Chloe's surprised face after she had called her that terrible name. She couldn't stop seeing the way that Beca had shaken her head at her as she left, like even though she didn't know her, she still had thought Aubrey was capable of better. It was driving her crazy because she was! She was capable of better. She hadn't meant to be so sharp or so cruel or so aggressive, that wasn't who she was! She wasn't a bad person! Yes, maybe she could be a bitch sometimes but she wasn't terrible like she had been that day. She had just gotten a little carried away. She had been with her brother all morning and he drove her nuts. Her father had been in town and she was always a little closer to snapping when he was within a hundred miles of her.

She had just been a little on edge.

That frustrated her because before moving here to take over the business she _had_ learned how to stop, how to relax, how to laugh and not be coiled so tightly. She had become a whole different person in Boston. It was her brother and her father. That hadn't been Chloe's fault. She understood that she had been wrong, at least she had been wrong in a way. She understood that Chloe was proud of her job and her knowledge. She hadn't meant to be so rude.

She slowly walked from the living room into the dining room, her heels clicking satisfyingly on the wooden floors. She sighed, her hands rubbing against her tired face. The floors were beautiful as well, or at least they could be. Why hadn't the homeowner asked for the floors to be stripped and refinished too? She was sure that she hadn't since, unlike her brother, Aubrey insisted that _she_ was the one to give her clients paperwork the final go through. Then again, the homeowner was older and she did seem stressed about the financial side of this project. It was clear too that she loved this house. She had told Aubrey that it had been in her family for three generations. She wasn't even doing this refurbishing for herself since she was moving into a retirement home. She planned on giving the house to her granddaughter as a wedding gift, something that Aubrey thought was a beautiful thing to do. Passing along a house was so much more than passing down a place to live. It was passing down a legacy, it was passing memories and thoughts and love. That was the reason why Aubrey felt so blessed to have been given her grandmother's home; her grandmother had been married in the living room, she, Aubrey, had grown up coming to that home for Christmas...it was the place her beloved grandmother had given birth to her mother.

A small smile touched Aubrey's lips, she would look into it and see if they couldn't do something for the floors as a courtesy. After all, the rest of the house was getting done. It could be her own wedding gift to her client's granddaughter. That was just good business.

She glanced around, seeing in her mind's eye what the home would soon look like. They needed to fill in that gap in the floorboards there and that one over there. She turned slowly; if they could find some she was sure they could polish the floor with a nice Tigerwood finish and it -

The sound of rubber sports sandals slapping on worn wood pulled her from her thoughts. Her hand had unconsciously gone out, pointing at the spots that needed a little TLC, directing and conducting her imagination. Now it dropped with a slap and she frowned, aggravated that her peaceful bubble had been popped. She turned and watched her brother clumsily stomp in, a bull in a sacred china shop as loud and annoying sucking sounds came from his empty Styrofoam cup.

"You think the old bat realizes how much this refurb is gonna cost?"

"Do you even know how much it will cost, _Chad?_ " She shot back, already knowing that he didn't, already provoked simply because he had walked into the room.

He sighed, pulling off his sunglasses so he could level her with a petulant gaze, " _That_ \- is not the point, Pee-Bree. You know what is the point? Bumper. How many times do I need to tell you to call me Bumper? If you're going to be living here in New Orleans and you're gonna be talking to my employees,"

" _Our_ employees!"

"Then you have to call me Bumper. It's not that hard. Say it with me. Ready? Buuuuummmpeeerrrrrr."

"That's ironic coming from a man who just called me ' _Pee-Bree_ '." Anger licked at Aubrey's insides, indignant, hot anger. This was so unfair. Three months and she still couldn't move past just how unfair it felt. Her grandmother had wanted _her_ to have the house and the business. She had been working her entire adult life to take this business over. _Why_ had their father forced them to split it? Why had her father given her brother _fifty-one percent?_

She was an adult, and not only that but she was a successful, happy, well-adjusted one for the most part. Being tormented by her big brother and being pushed into a childlike anger should not be something she had to endure at this age.

"Why do you want people to call you that, Chad? It's a stupid nickname! What is it even supposed to mean?"

"Your face is stupid."

She pursed her lips and resolutely stepped out of the room. It didn't help much though because her brother just followed her, sucking on that straw, trying to get the very last bit of coke from the cup. With frustration, she yanked the cup from his hand and turned, going to the kitchen and throwing it away.

"Okay. Fine then. But seriously, did you talk to her about the cost 'cuz,"

"Yes, of course I talked to her. All the paperwork is done and filed."

"Right and - uh," he looked around blankly, "contractors start coming -"

"On the 19th."

"Awesome! I'll let her -"

"I already did."

"Great! Awesome! I'm gonna bounce then! Peeeace!"

"Chad, where are you going? We need to go to the Meyer home after this, remember?"

He just shrugged. "You can go. Just because _you_ don't have a life doesn't mean I don't."

"You have their paperwork."

"I don't have that." He said, shaking his head so fast and hard that his lips made a grotesque flapping noise. "It's in your briefcase thing."

"Chad!" She moaned, not at all surprised, "You did the walk through, what do they want?"

He just shrugged again.

Fists clenched, she let out a growl, "I don't understand why Daddy even put you in charge here. You know nothing!"

At this he gave a huge smile. "Because Mimaw liked me better."

"No," she admitted sullen, "Because Daddy likes you better."

"That's right! Up top!" He reached for a high five but she ignored him. "Psssh, whatever. Later loser."

She watched him force his aviators on and walk back out of the room.

The very worst thing about this was that he was okay at this job. It was the one he had been able to do the longest because, like her, he had some natural talent at it. It was minimal in comparison with hers, yes, but where he eclipsed her was in his ability to handle their staff. They inexplicably loved him. He was horrible, he was rude, vulgar, chauvinistic and yet they flocked to him, insisting he 'told things as they were' and made them laugh. She would never understand it. We're they all idiots? Was she so uptight that she couldn't see the dim-witted appeal of her brother?

She turned away from the open door and started into the kitchen, the one room they rarely did much in. Their work was about restoring fixings, walls, and flooring, not so much about modernizing. She pushed through it and into the back bedroom, her mind drifting. She hadn't even left the room before her thoughts were back to where they had been for the past three weeks; the strangers whom she had humiliated and been so rude to.

It had been exactly three weeks to the very day now. She gave a sigh and knocked softly on the banister, making up her mind. She had promised herself last week that if she was still thinking about it then she would call them. She needed to do that and she needed to do that _on the double_. She had to get this off her back.

Determined she turned and started out the door, already feeling better simply because she finally had a plan.

She wasn't sure how to track them down; that was what would be difficult here. She supposed that she could go back to the French Quarter and see if she could find that tour guide.

She paused, leaning against her car and looked up at the trees above her as she debated the best course of action. She loved Saint Charles Street, but specifically she loved the trees. St. Charles was the direct parade route for not only Mardi Gras, but also any other parade throughout the year. It was lined with the grandest homes and the most beautiful architecture; raised center-hall villas with large front galleries, huge creole townhouses with side-gabled roofs, double-gallery houses with porches that wrapped around the entire home. They were all beautiful. She looked up into the leaves of the tree she was standing under and smiled. She loved the way that they dripped Spanish Moss from their branches and she loved that though the owners clearly did their best to remove them every year, there was always a handful of Mardi Gras beads hanging high up in the branches, some faded with age, some bright and vivid.

Beca had said that she worked at Mardi Gras World. She would start there.

Aubrey slid into her car, her mind working over exactly how she could track down the redhead she had offended so thoroughly. Aubrey was persistent. This would get done.

But.

What if they didn't want to come? That was a real possibility. That was a probability even.

She cleared her throat, uncomfortable with that line of thought and clicked on the radio hoping for a distraction.

 _'...Momma's cookin' gumbo, gumbo, gumbo. Momma's cooking gumbo, a big gumbo...I got to the coast. I found myself a ship but I could have been on drugs it was such a bad trip. I mean three days out, were swamped by a gale. Swept from the decks, I was swallowed by a whale. I said hey, brother whale, this just won't do. I might not be big but I know a thing or two. So I got my trusty bottle of Tabasco sauce, I poured it down his stomach, I said now who's boss…_

"Ooooh god, no!" It had taken her a moment to really tune in since her thoughts had been elsewhere. "Not _that_ song. No!" She jabbed the radio's off switch so hard that it made her finger ache. It was like a parasite on the New Orleans radio stations, always on, always aggravating. Who the hell had decided the song was a good one? That wasn't even singing! No thank you. She picked up the phone and asked Siri to look up the phone number for Mardi Gras World.

When she arrived back at her house she still hadn't made the call, she still hadn't found the courage. What she had found instead was that telltale swirling feeling in her stomach, that building that told her that if she didn't calm down then she was going to have _an episode_. She didn't want that so despite the stress, the worry, the anxiety, she clicked the phone number she had found and held the phone to her ear, trying to block out the sound of the grumbling coming from her stomach.

It rang once and then a raucous, thickly accented voice yelled into the phone, "Mardi Gras World, this is Amy!"

She took a deep breath, double checking that it was safe to open her mouth before she said, "Hi Amy, I'm looking for Beca, please."

"Who?"

"Beca? Um," A spasm of panic jabbed her in the belly. She hadn't gotten their last names!

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, loud offbeat jazz filtering in from the background before finally the woman spoke, "Yeah no, sorry, no one by that name works here."

Aubrey frowned, wondering vaguely for a moment if Beca had lied about her job. "No, I'm sure she does. She is new. She's small. She has brown hair and tattoos."

"Yeah, yeah, 'lright, let me check." And instead of putting the phone on mute as most would have done and as professionalism would have required, she simply set the phone down - Aubrey assumed - and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Is there a Beca suddenly working here?" Aubrey yelped and jerked the phone away from her ear, putting it instead on speakerphone at arm's length. "Oh shit, there is? Oooooh, newbie short stack? Man, how come even the new girl gets more calls than my sexy ass?" There was a muffled scratching noise as the receiver was picked back up, "She's uh, she's not in. I can take a message or if this is about a gig then I can forward you to her mobile."

"Yes!" Aubrey lied, "It is. That would be very helpful. Thank you."

"'lright, hold on."

She waited for a second, her fingers drumming on her thigh as she stood in the center of her formal living room and jumped when the line began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm looking for Beca, please."

"You found her. How can I help you?"

"Oh!" She cleared her throat and without thinking she began to move around the room, straightening pillows, centering the books on the coffee table, gathering her things and moving them back to her den where she too began to straighten up. "Hi Beca, this is Aubrey - Posen. We met a few weeks ago." She swallowed and then grudgingly added, "On a tour."

Beca had been silent thus far and suddenly she let out a, "Oooooooh. Oh shit! Right! Sorry, I - uh, wow, hi!"

"Hi. Forgive me for calling, but I was wondering if you were free this evening."

" _Eerrrr -_ "

"You see," she went on before Beca could give a yes or no, "I have been thinking about our lunch quite a bit since it happened and I am just mortified! It is a poor apology when someone else pays. So," she took another steadying breath as her stomach rolled, "I am hopeful that perhaps I could take you both out again."

" _What?_ "

"I just," she cut through the polite song and dance and said what she needed to, "I can't stop thinking about it. Let me buy you both dinner."

The silence on the other end of the line only lasted a total of three seconds but it felt like an eternity that Aubrey couldn't bear.

"You want to take us out because you feel like your apology last time wasn't good enough - because you didn't pay - and you can't stop thinking about it?" Beca's voice was incredulous but despite that Aubrey simply said yes. "Dude, it's been like three weeks since then! That's like almost a month! You're really still thinking about this?"

She could tell that Beca was teasing her, mostly, but this wasn't funny. She needed this. She needed to do this to clear her conscience. And if she were being honest -

"Like, are you okay? That's a little, well, crazypants."

She scowled, "I'm not crazy, Beca. I would just like to take you two out again. Please." If she were being honest, she wanted this for other reasons too. She wouldn't say it to anyone in the world but she hoped they both would say yes. She needed some company.

Aubrey wouldn't say that she was lonely, not exactly. In order to be lonely, you must first be unhappy about being alone and she wasn't exactly. However, she was new to the city and she didn't know anyone. She couldn't go out to drinks or to dinner with her employees since they all loved her brother so much that she had to work twice as hard to get them to respect her. She couldn't see them socially. She couldn't...be herself. She couldn't be herself with anyone anymore.

For a moment the bitter grief spilled over the edges of her control and she felt her face crumple.

She missed the talks. She missed sitting for hours on the phone with her grandmother. She missed being known.

She gasped, doing her best to make absolutely no noise.

God, she missed not being alone.

"Sorry! I hadn't meant that you're actually crazy - um, okay," Beca said on the other end, her tone apologetic. "Have you talked to the tour guide?"

"Chloe."

"Riiiight, Chloe."

"No, not yet. I will call her when we get off the phone. I just need to track down where she works."

"Is that how you got me? Did you call Mardi Gras World?"

Aubrey stumbled. She thought she could hear laughter in Beca's voice but she was unsure if Beca was teasing again or not.

"I," there was no point in hiding it, they would probably tell her the moment she next went into work. "I did."

"Wow. Stalker much?" Aubrey winced but Beca just laughed. "Um, okay, I just have to check my schedule for tonight. I, um, I don't have it on me. Can," she cleared her throat thickly, "can I call you back in a few minutes, maybe?"

"Yes, that would be fine."

"Okay. Oh, and I got Chloe's card at the - place - whatever it was called – with the tours. I'll call her, yeah?"

Aubrey frowned but she agreed and hung up. She looked around the room, surprised that while on the phone she had cleaned it entirely. That meant she didn't have anything else to do now, which was unfortunate. She started toward the front door, planning to push it open and close the screen.

The average home in New Orleans was the same, they were all in shotgun style. That meant that the house was long, each room leading to the other in a straight line. The best thing about these New Orleans shotgun houses was the breeze. That was exactly why they were designed that way originally but it still rang true today.

She propped the door open and headed back toward the other end to do the same to the back door.

She knew that Beca had wanted to call Chloe herself so that they could discuss and agree on if they _both_ would be going. The odds were if one was busy or unwilling then neither of them would go.

That hurt, but it didn't surprise her. Behaviors like that from people never surprised her since, after all, she was a handful to deal with. She knew that. She had been told that her entire life.

Once the back door was propped open as well, the warm late spring air began to lift and swirl her hair. She breathed in the scent of the wildflowers on the wind and settled onto her den's sofa. All she could do now was wait and see if they would call her back.

She picked up the files that always sat on the coffee table these days. Her brother might not care about knowing her grandmother's previous clients or her business but she did. She had been studying nonstop for three months and she wouldn't stop until she knew everything.

She tried to focus but instead, she watched every single minute click by on the clock across the room, all too aware of each as it passed.

It took exactly fourteen of them for her phone to begin singing the traditional iPhone tone.

She snatched it up in a second but paused. She didn't want to seem overeager or like she was sitting by the phone waiting. That would make her look a little bit like a loser, right? She would count to ten and then she would pick up...as if she had been in the other room or simply busy.

Yes.

One.

Two.

She only got to three before she began to worry that she would miss the call entirely. "Aubrey Posen."

There was a pause and then, "Hi Aubrey Posen, It's Beca Mitchell. Chloe - um, I didn't get her last name, whatever. Chloe and I will meet you in the Quarter tonight. What time and where?"

It only took a few minutes for them to make plans, seeing as how she still didn't know where to take them. They settled on a street corner to meet on and a time before hanging up.

She sat back then, breathing deeply, staring in minor disbelief at her phone. They had said yes. They were going to meet her that night. A smile tugging at her lips, she picked the papers back up and attempted to keep reading.

It was futile though. Now that they had made plans, all that Aubrey could do was think about those. She gave up and instead opened her laptop and began researching restaurants in the French Quarter. If she was going to take them out, then she was going to make it memorable. She narrowed her search to restaurants that were four stars and above.

A solid hour later she got up, a plan made and written down on the notepad that lived on her coffee table, and got into the shower. She took a painstakingly long time to bathe before she spent an even longer time choosing her clothes. Finally she decided on a pair of clean, crisp black slacks and a white blouse. She then pulled her hair up into a knot so tight that it made her scalp sting. Finally after makeup, perfume, heels and every other little detail she could think of had been completed, she checked herself - twice - and then headed to take the two women she had insulted out to dinner.

The French Quarter was different at this time of night, filled with couples rushing off to dinner and shoppers carrying their bags toward the various parking lots. The small afternoon bands were packing up for home while the larger and flashier bands were warming up and getting ready for the night crowds, street performers were stretching and greeting others while the magicians and tarot readers finished up with their last clients. Each restaurant she passed seemed to be booming with life. She could hear patrons yelling to one another, could smell the decadent dishes being prepared and it made her mouth water. She hadn't been able to eat earlier, determined not to take any chances with her stomach but that meant that she was starving.

She continued down Conti street, moving at a slight trot to slip through a group of college guys on Bourbon so she could take a left on Royal. Across the street, she could see one of the two people she was meeting. Chloe, who was oblivious to her a streetlight away, was standing under a bright blue and red neon sign flashing an ad for daiquiris and pizza by the slice. The light above her was catching her hair, making it glow like fire, the blue light making her eyes shine so bright that even from this distance they were obvious to Aubrey.

It took Aubrey a second to realize that everyone had started walking a few moments before, already nearly to the other side of the street by now.

"Oh!" She stepped off the curb and was almost run down by a bike messenger. Finally, she had to rip her eyes away from the woman twenty feet away. She was _so_ pretty. She had forgotten just how pretty she was. Aubrey was sure that had something to do with her initial reaction to Chloe as well. She was just so pretty. It was staggering and that made her uncomfortable. In her stomach a small parade had begun, a fluttering that she knew oh so well. She had felt this a few times now and it was _not_ allowed.

No, she scolded herself, stiffen that upper lip, Aubrey, and get your mind out of the gutter.

She simply would not drink tonight. As a matter of fact, she was not _allowed_ to drink tonight. _That's what happens when you can't control your behavior, Bree. You lose your privileges._ She would put herself in a timeout if need be, just so she behaved properly.

Aubrey, well, she had a nasty habit of going to bars, never looking for what she often found, but instead looking for companionship or a moment to let her hair down and then waking the next morning naked and in the bed of a woman she did not know nor fully remembered. She cleared her throat, her shoulders going back.

It was embarrassing.

Just do not allow yourself to become intoxicated and you will be fine, she promised herself yet again as she stepped onto the curb and approached the glowing woman. "Hi."

Chloe's head whipped around, a smile on her face. "Hey. There you are! How are you?"

"I'm doing very well, thank you. And you?"

Chloe gave a small nod and another smile. "I can't complain."

"I'm glad." Aubrey nodded too, glancing down to the sidewalk under Chloe's gaze as she realized with a grimace that she was unsure of anything to say past that. She was rarely socially awkward; she had been taught too well for that. Her father believed very firmly in small talk. Still, she racked her brain and couldn't seem to find anything to say...which was strange.

"So, no Beca yet."

"Oh! Yes, I see that."

"I'm sure she'll be here in a second though. I was so surprised when she called me at work! You know, you so don't have to buy us dinner, Aubrey. It's okay if you just wanted some company."

"But, no, that wasn't - but I do - have to!"

Chloe gave her a searching look but didn't argue. Instead she fell into what felt like a thoughtful silence, watching the people walk by. It made Aubrey uncomfortable, unsure if maybe Chloe was only here to see Beca - or if Beca had forced her or something. Chloe caught her eye and gave her a large smile which Aubrey returned with a frown; maybe she was the only one to feel uncomfortable and awkward here.

"Heeey."

They both turned to see Beca crossing the street, her hands in her back pockets. She tossed them an only slightly hesitant smile in greeting.

She had almost made it across when suddenly the smile dropped and Beca froze, one ankle boot on the curb. "Was I supposed to dress up?" Her face contorted into one of horror, "Shit!" She took a step back like she was about to take off in the opposite direction. "Am I the dick who missed the memo that we were supposed to dress up? Crap, I'll -" her thumb hitched over her shoulder but before Aubrey could speak Chloe cut her to the chase.

"Wait, what?" Her hand was out as though trying to pull Beca onto the sidewalk. "You're not under dressed, Beca! Don't be silly!"

Aubrey had to agree. She thought that Beca in her black tank top and stiff jeans looked magnificent. And why would she think they were dressed up? Yes, she had taken great care in what she wore but she was not 'dressed up'.

"It's just us. You don't need to think like that. Plus, I didn't dress up." Chloe looked at Aubrey and she was pleased to see that she looked just as baffled as Aubrey felt. She supposed that Chloe's skater skirt, thin blouse, and tall-heeled boots weren't exactly like Beca's jeans.

"So you both dress like that every day?" Beca asked, her voice lilting as her eyebrow rose.

Confused and a little worried Aubrey looked down at her slacks. She liked these pants!

Again Aubrey and Chloe exchanged baffled looks.

Finally, unable to stop herself Aubrey asked, "Like _what_...exactly?"

A funny little look crossed Beca's face, equally rueful and something that Aubrey couldn't quite place, but Beca just silently stepped onto the curb to join them, her fisted hand swinging and clapping into her open palm.

"So. Where are we going?" She asked, shifting in place.

Aubrey checked the time. "I have reservations at Broussard's." She looked between them, hoping for some reaction to this news. Beca just gave a small nod but Chloe's face remained blank. After a moment, stress began to swirl in Aubrey's stomach. It hadn't been this awkward or tense last time they had all met. Had she done something wrong? Was Broussard's the wrong place to choose? Her stomach gave a warning swirl and she habitually pressed her lips together tightly.

Suddenly Chloe beamed and the smile was so bright, so vibrant that it made Aubrey blink. "You know what I'm in the mood for? Music."

She hoped - she had tried - to keep her face empty, to keep it from showing her utter disappointment. She _had_ chosen wrong. That was the problem; that was where this thick tension was coming from. She had made a mistake. She had chosen the _wrong_ thing! She cleared her throat, looking down at her hands because for a moment she couldn't bear to look at her companions for the night. She had planned their whole evening to a T, she had it scheduled in her phone's calendar.

Broussard's had been rated so highly. She couldn't understand it.

"But I have reservations," she tried to say it firmly, authoritatively as her father had taught her but it came out breathy and weak.

Chloe let out a little laugh, her eyes twinkling and though Aubrey could tell she wasn't laughing at her, she didn't like it.

"I'm sorry," This time the firmness that she had wanted was very much present, "but do not laugh at me for doing the proper thing and planning ahead!"

"Oh no!" Chloe, still giggling a little, put her hand on Aubrey's arm and squeezed. Aubrey just stared at the hand on her, slightly confused. "I'm sorry, I'm not! Awe, I'm not laughing _at_ you. I promise. I was just thinking that it would be nice to do something a little fun this time. Come on, live a little. What'dya say?"

"So, it's not _living_ to stick to a plan?"

"I didn't say that."

"You certainly implied it."

Chloe's mouth popped open but she paused as though rechecking her words, "I just think -"

"Hey guys, look," Beca interrupted them, "if you're gonna keep arguing like this, then I'm not so interested in hanging out and playing middle man. That wasn't exactly fun for me."

Chloe frowned, touching her arm this time. "We're sorry. We'll behave better." Lips twisted in a distractingly cute way, Chloe stepped a little closer to her, her face thoughtful. "This is New Orleans, the city of spontaneity."

Aubrey watched as her hand reached and softly, very softly, she pulled lightly on the knot Aubrey's hair was in. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Let your hair down. It will be fun, I promise."

Aubrey looked back at Chloe, mildly alarmed as to how close she was standing. Her face was turned up toward her and there was such open hope in her expression, like all she wanted from the night was to show them a good time.

Still, she was upset. She had made a plan. That fact was important. She was uncomfortable with this. She couldn't not be uncomfortable with this.

"Hey," a soft voice on her other side said, giving her a small elbow nudge. She looked over and into Beca's face, seeing that she was smiling at her in such a soft sweet way. It was so at odds with her slightly too heavy eye makeup and generally blank expression. Aubrey hadn't realized before, at least not on this level, but Beca was beautiful. Under Aubrey's gaze Beca's smile widened, a few dimples popping out and her eyes sparkled. She was tiny in every way compared to her but it was hard to not see it. Yes, just like Chloe, Beca too was beautiful. She glanced at Chloe again, at her hopeful smile, seeing the way she was holding her breath for an answer.

Okay then, she simply would not drink at all that evening.

"I like food, but I like music too," Beca said, seeming to strangely understand what was happening in Aubrey's mind just then. "So maybe let's do both? Or, I don't know, something in the middle?"

Both Beca and Chloe waited, smiling so kindly at her that Aubrey knew she didn't have another choice. Her shoulders slumped and she slowly gave a nod, not because she was comfortable or okay with throwing her plan and its security out the window. No, she gave in because they were both staring at her and it was making her realize that they both had blue eyes and yet their eyes couldn't be any more different. It made her head feel funny.

"Yes!" Chloe grinned, squeezing her arm excitedly. "You both are going to love it so much!"

"You sure about that?" Beca asked, her grin sliding to the side and going crooked. It made Aubrey envy Chloe a little, envy the way that Beca's smile was so simple and in no way there to comfort. She was just smiling at Chloe because Chloe made her smile.

That would be nice.

"Well, you liked the sandwich, didn't you?"

"Alright, true."

"Come on!" Overly excited and all but bouncing she started off, barely waiting for them.

"Will they have something like that where we're going? Greasy sounds awesome!" Beca called, a few paces behind Chloe as she fell in line.

"No," Chloe called over her shoulder, "I don't think this place serves gator!"

Both Aubrey and Beca stopped in their tracks, exchanging green looks.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Aubrey**_

* * *

"But you _liked_ it!" Chloe all but moaned as Beca, still on her rampage about being fed alligator, insisted yet again that the idea was gross.

"So! There are some things you don't eat! Alligator? No. That's a solid _no_ , dude! What the fuck is with the food here? It's all fish or alligator and both are a strict _no_."

"You don't like fish?" Chloe gaped.

"Not really, no. I mean shrimp is good. And maybe Salmon. Maybe. But no."

"How can you live here and not like fish?"

Aubrey wasn't exactly pleased about the alligator either, but at the moment her stomach was swirling for other reasons. They had just stepped into an underground jazz club and though Chloe cut through the crowds like a knife through warm butter, the constantly pushing people and the unfamiliar surroundings were getting to Aubrey a little. She kept trying to tell herself to relax, that this was no big deal. She was doing her best to keep her face blank, as though this wasn't bothering her at all. Because it wasn't; not really. It was just a plan that was different from hers. When she looked up, however, and realized that she had been separated from her companions, she couldn't help the distress she knew showed. This was exactly why you stick to plans once they were made. She wasn't uncomfortable in crowds, she wasn't uncomfortable in small places like this, but she hadn't been _prepared_ for this. She had been prepared for a quiet dinner together where they could talk, so the chaos of this tiny club was feeling a little overwhelming.

She glanced around, her back straight as a board, her lips pursed; she was simply going to have to suck it up and deal with this evening and how it was going to go. She might even have fun.

A hand slid softly into hers and for a very shaky moment she nearly yelped in surprised but then the hand tightened and she turned to meet the kind eyes of Chloe - sweeter than she had seen them thus far.

"Hey."

"Hello. I'm sorry, I seemed to have lost -"

"Are you okay?"

Aubrey cleared her throat, her neck elongating as she brought forward the lie. "What? Of course I am."

Chloe just looked at her for a moment, long and hard, in a way that made Aubrey wonder what she was seeing. She shifted in place a little as Chloe's eyes narrowed. "I have a confession."

Aubrey's heart picked up a bit. "Oh! You do?" She didn't know what she expected but the way she said that made Aubrey nervous.

"Yes."

"Okay." She blinked a few times, anxiously waiting.

"I wanted to bring you and Beca here because I really think you're going to like it and I want us to have fun together." A look of guilt crossed her face and Aubrey realized her hand was still in Chloe's. She tried to gently pull away but Chloe held tight. "But also, I think with a touch of vindictiveness because of what happened when we first met." She frowned, her face falling more by the second, "I'm sorry. Do you want to go back? Broussard's is usually running late. I bet we could still get our table." Chloe's bottom lip caught between her teeth and, though the crease remained in her brow, she teasingly said, "I love to be wined and dined so I won't complain."

Aubrey felt her cheeks warm ever so slightly. She wanted to say yes, please, let's go back to the schedule but there was Chloe smiling at her and her hand still trapped Aubrey suddenly didn't want to. She actually really loved jazz; specifically underground jazz like this was most likely to be. She was being too _Aubrey_ about this. She needed to stop. And once she decided that, she found that the care she could see there in Chloe's face, the fact that she was indeed willing to change their plans, was enough to soothe her. "No." She smiled, "Thank you though."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I think I am."

"'Kay. Our table is over here."

Aubrey sat in the middle chair of the half circle, all facing the small stage and shared a smile with the other two.

"Okay, but this time _I'm_ ordering for myself." Beca insisted, picking up the menu and glaring.

"You _liked_ it!" Chloe cried, waving for a server. "Hi! Um, vodka and branch, please. Ladies?"

Beca ordered a cocktail and then both looked at Aubrey expectantly.

She had told herself that she wouldn't get _drunk_ tonight, or even tipsy, or even drink. She wanted to be fully in control of herself but she also didn't want it to seem too much like she was the type of person who couldn't relax and have a drink with them. She couldn't, that was the problem. She couldn't just relax like everyone else and have a few drinks but she ordered her usual dry martini anyway.

"So, who's playing tonight?"

Chloe shrugged, "But it's always good. Do you guys want to get an appetizer? I'm staaaaaarving! The shrimp is amazing here." She grinned and gave Beca a teasing little shoulder nudge.

Aubrey sent her a side-glance and Chloe laughed, "Oh my god, you two are so funny! You both liked it but fine," she gave a lofty little eye roll and dropped her menu onto the middle of the table, "you two pick an appetizer, just do it soon!"

They settled on the shrimp anyway and, drinks in hand, they all sat back and looked at one another as if realizing for the first time that they were all there together - near strangers.

Aubrey knew that this was a bit weird, perhaps.

"So." Beca finally drawled and together they all gave a laugh. "This is awkward." Her thumbs twiddled for a second. "Just gonna – put that out there."

"That's okay!" Chloe insisted giving them such an honest smile that Aubrey even wondered if maybe it really was.

"How's work?" Beca asked them. "Anyone have any stories to share?"

Aubrey gave a stiff laugh, "Is that something we are talking about this time?"

Chloe just smiled in response.

"Okay, good." Beca nodded, "That's, err, settled. So then?"

Aubrey opened her mouth to speak at the same time that Chloe did which made them both pause for the other, open again, and then let out awkward laughs. She gave Chloe a head nod and Chloe went on first. She told them about a day she had recently spent at Jean Lafitte Preserve with a group of eager pirate enthusiast, giving them a specialized paid tour through the park. "It's huge so of course we got lost in about five minutes flat, but it was fun anyway."

Aubrey then went on to tell them about the house she was currently working on.

"Is that what you do? You moved here to remodel houses?"

"No." Aubrey smoothed her napkin in her lap. "Well yes, I suppose. I only recently relocated here and it was for the business but we don't exactly remodel. We restore and renovate. My grandmother owned a restorative business in the Lower Garden district. There is a big call here for houses to be restored properly so they stay true to their original time period as well as the style of the city."

Chloe nodded as though this made perfect sense to her.

"And so you came here to work with her?" Beca asked, toying with her glass.

"Oh. No. My grandmother passed away a few months ago. When she died I moved here from Boston to take over her house and her business."

"Oh," Chloe reached over and with honest sympathy on her face gave her hand a small squeeze. "I'm so sorry, Aubrey. Were you close?"

For a moment, the question almost felt like too much. She couldn't help but to think of all the times she had spent here, she couldn't help but to think of the scent of her, the sound of her laughter. Aubrey looked down at Chloe's hand, which was still atop her own and then away. "Yes. We were."

Chloe nodded, her eyes over bright, almost wet, as though she had been able to see everything Aubrey had been thinking.

"So that's what you do? You restore houses?" Beca asked, a little incredulously as her eyes slid to Aubrey's soft, neat hands, with her perfectly manicured nails.

"Oh no," Aubrey gave a little laugh. "I'm basically a project manager. The company, Joie De Vivre Paint and Renovations, is - _partially_ \- mine." Beca's eyebrows rose at the bitterness in her voice and so she debated for a moment explaining but then decided not to. They didn't need to know what her father and her brother thought of her. "For the most part I schedule, I follow the contractors on site and help direct traffic, make sure everyone is doing their job, make sure the client is happy. I'm also the main person that keeps track of the accuracy of the renovation. No, I don't think I could work with my hands that way. Anyway, enough about me. Beca, how is the music going?"

Beca had just finished telling them about the music she was planning for the festivals that were coming up when they heard the titer of a trumpet beginning very quietly to warm up.

"Oh, I think the music is going to start soon!"

A man on the small makeshift stage raised his hat and gave a shout of welcome. A few minutes later Chloe was moving in her seat, enjoying the band as they played. Even Beca who was lounging back in her chair, her face blank, casually had a thumb tapping with pleasure on the table.

They were amazing and though Aubrey wanted to move too, wanted to sing, she just smiled whenever one of the other two caught her eye, her back straight, her hands folded together in her lap, completely betraying the delight that the music was filling her with.

"Ladies! Here you go! Are you ready to order anything else?" The server asked as he put down the plate of spicy creole shrimp. They each ordered their entrees before Chloe tapped her glass, signaling for another round for the table.

Slightly panicked by the thought of more alcohol, she swallowed the rest of her drink down. She would just have to nurse the next one.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm?" She turned to Beca but before she could speak a fork was suddenly waiting in front of her face, a slim hand with blue painted nails hovering below it.

"Here, try this," Chloe offered.

"It's not alligator, is it?" Aubrey asked with a breathless laugh, overly aware that a drip of butter sauce had just landed in the other woman's palm, that Chloe was still holding the other end of the utensil and that her own lips were about to close on Chloe's fork. If Chloe cared about that at all then she didn't show it. Chloe gave her a little encouraging wink and because she was sure she couldn't do anything else, she took the bite, moaning a little at the taste. Instantly her cheeks flooded with heat. The food was amazing yes, but she hadn't meant to be so _vocal_ about it.

Chloe just beamed and it was so large and bright and simply pleased that Aubrey liked the food that Aubrey blushed even harder, knowing she hadn't gotten that kind of smile from Chloe before.

It was nice.

Napkin coming up to her lips, her blush grew as she watched Chloe's tongue flick across her own palm, unwilling to waste even a drop of the sauce.

"Slap Ya Mama!"

"I'm sorry?" Aubrey spluttered.

Chloe gave a happy giggle, "It's the spice mix. I love it!"

"It's good, right?" Beca laughed.

Aubrey pulled her eyes away from Chloe, who had just loaded up her fork and plopped it into her mouth.

"We might even have to forgive her for feeding us freaking alligator."

Aubrey must have made a face because Beca all but doubled over laughing.

It turned out that they _all_ had a secret - or perhaps not so secret - passion for underground jazz. This surprised Aubrey a little because she was confident that she had never met two others in her entire life that enjoyed it like she did. Still, as she watched Chloe and Beca move a little in their seats she had to admit they obviously did.

"Come dance with me." Chloe turned in her seat, her lip back between her teeth.

Beca froze, her leg mid bounce over the arm of her chair and glanced at Aubrey, "Um, which one of us?"

Chloe laughed, "Either. Both. Definitely both. Come on, let's go dance!"

"Um," Aubrey smoothed her napkin in her lap, looking everywhere but at the woman in front of her. She actually loved to dance; not that many knew that about her. Dancing and singing were her two favorite relaxation techniques and she did them quite often when she was alone at home but the thing was, she wasn't at home alone.

"Yeah, sorry," Beca laughed in her dry monotone, "but I'm not drunk enough for that to happen."

"What? No!" Chloe's face fell into a frustrated pout, "You only dance when you're drunk? That's awful. Come on, come fix that with me."

"No, that's not it," Beca squawked, fighting Chloe, who was actively trying to pull her from her chair, "but um, awck! I need to stay with Aubrey and keep her company!"

"But Aubrey's coming with me, isn't she?" Those huge blue eyes turned on her, "Aren't you?"

"Um, well…" she shifted in her seat, sending Beca a plaintive glance.

"Excuse me, miss, I overheard and I'd be happy to dance with you." A man at the table next to them had seen an opportunity and he was going to take it.

Chloe tried for another few moments before with a sigh and a shake of her head she let the man twirl her onto the dance floor.

It was hard not to watch as she moved with him, her hair flying, her laugh bouncing off of the walls like the perfect counterpoint to the brass. She watched the man spin Chloe out, only to twirl her back in and a sliver of something ugly crawled through Aubrey's stomach. She wished that she had said yes. She could still say yes now; she could get up and dance but would that seem strange? She wasn't _jealous_ or anything, but would it look that way? And how terrible and awkward and stiff would she look next to her?

"So."

Aubrey jumped, realizing that she was staring. She glanced back to Beca and felt a little better. At least she too had half of her attention on the dance floor, and her eyebrows were just as pinched as her own.

"So," Beca said again, the full measure of her deep blue eyes on Aubrey. "Are you having _any_ fun at all?"

She frowned. Did it look like she wasn't having fun? "What? Of course I'm having fun! So far this has been...very enjoyable."

"And the evening is just beginning." Beca gave her a smug grin and raised her glass to clink it with Aubrey's. "Are you sure you don't want to dance?"

"With Chloe?" She glanced back for a moment but almost immediately returned to Beca, caught by the intense way that Beca was watching her.

"Or with me." She said with a shrug, shooting her a side glance out of the corner of her eye before she quickly turned her attention back to the dance floor.

That surprised her. Hadn't Beca just turned down Chloe? "You want to dance with me?"

"Dude, why wouldn't I want to dance with you?" And Beca was laughing, but she was laughing in a way that somehow didn't offend Aubrey at all. Actually, Aubrey kind of liked it.

These girls…they were so funny.

"Oh." She blinked, flustered. "Perhaps a bit later."

"Can I get you anything then?"

"No, I'm okay."

Beca gave a little nod, her look unreadable and sat back, giving her a quick side smile that Aubrey couldn't help but to return. She was kind of quiet, and she was often a little sarcastic but Beca was sweet.

"Are you _sure_ you're comfortable?" Beca finally asked after a few numbers had played.

"What? Yes! Why?"

Beca's eyebrows rose, "No reason," she said in a high voice.

Aubrey knew what it was though; she had heard it over and over again in her life. Beca had a leg draped over the arm of her chair, casually sipping from her glass, the picture of ease, while Chloe was being passed around the dance floor indiscriminately. Next to both of them Aubrey knew that she must look like an uptight statue.

This got better.

The more comfortable she got the less like this she was, but the problem was she doubted highly that there would be time to get that kind of comfortable with these women.

She hated that habit and she wanted it to change. She didn't want to seem overly stiff. She didn't want to seem _boring_.

"Ladies, lean back for a moment, these plates are hot."

Aubrey glanced up, trying to catch Chloe's eye but the woman was busy with her latest partner.

"I'll get her." Beca nodded and rose.

Soon both women plopped back into their seats, Chloe humming with pleasure, her breath quick.

"This looks good!"

"The food here is surprisingly good." Chloe took a bite and sighed. "So. Are you guys really not going to dance with me? At all?"

"I just - oh no! Shit!" In her haste to seem like maybe she was a little less tense than she was she had waved her hand and sent her martini splashing across the table and floor. "Oh no!" Immediately she dropped to her knees and began trying to blot the ground with her napkin, her cheeks on fire as she chastised herself for her clumsiness. This is what happens when you won't just let yourself _be_ yourself, Aubrey. Stop trying to be what you think others want you to be!

"Miss, let me help you."

"Oh! Thank you!" She gave the server a flustered smile, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean - I'm so sorry about the mess!"

"It's alright. Later in the evening people get up and dance. Can you imagine how many drinks get knocked over then?"

She let out a warm laugh, feeling a little better, "Yes, I can only imagine!"

"The night before last a man was dancing with a hurricane and tripped. His drink went all down the front of the woman beside him. _That_ was a mess. This is nothing."

"Oh no!" Aubrey laughed, letting the man take her wet napkins from her. "Was she angry?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. Here, please. Take a seat and we will get you another drink."

"Okay. Thank you for your help," she said, still embarrassed. A small strand of hair had fallen when she bent over so she smoothed it back in place, praying that soon her red face would fade. She glanced back up and to her horror she saw that both women were staring at her, looking equally perplexed and surprised.

Self-consciously she finished smoothing her hair back before asking, "What?" They were looking at her like they were only just seeing her. She knew this look too. She got it every now and then. They both were looking at her like she had thrown them off balance. This was the 'I'm surprised you're not just a total bitch' look. Her face set and she swallowed, a little angry and took a large sip of her drink the moment it was in her hand. "I do know how to laugh." She finally said when both continued to study her.

Beca's face cracked into a grin, "That's good to know." Beside her, Chloe let out a purr, squirming in her seat with excitement.

Their food was amazing, each moaning and groaning as they cheered the band on and soon the awkwardness that had never quite left began to give way to light conversation and laughter.

The band was finishing up their last song as the server cleared away their empty plates and their drink glasses.

"They were really good!" Beca gave a whole body sigh. "I need to hear more music like this."

"For work?" Aubrey guessed.

"Hmm, yup. I mean, I have Spotify and all of that, but I don't know, it's not the same as hearing it - which I need to do a lot of and like _now_."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the music for these gigs coming up is written and recorded so there's that but I don't know, this place is so different." Beca sighed, running her hand through her hair, not seeming to mind that it tousled it and left it a mess. It made Aubrey want to reach over and smooth it down. "I don't know," Beca sighed, her hands falling back to the table. "I'm not sure if I like it."

Vexed, Chloe asked, "What do you mean?"

"Okay, Miss NOLA, don't get mad at me or anything but it's different here than pretty much anywhere else, right? That's kinda the point. Which is, you know, great and everything, I'm just not sure I'm cut out for it. The music is so different!"

"How so?" Aubrey asked, leaning in to hear her better.

"I don't know. Before I was mostly mixing pop songs and composing dance beats. And yeah, I had to compose for bands and stuff like that sometimes but it was all very pop culture before. This is, I don't know."

"No, I get it." Aubrey nodded, her napkin at her lips. "I bet writing music for a brass band is really different than writing something for people to dance to in a club."

"Isn't that part of the fun, though?" Chloe asked, "I mean, part of the challenge?"

Beca gave a long sigh, her eyes going wide in a way that made Aubrey worry that her head was going to pop. "Yeah, I guess. I just - I don't know, maybe I'll feel different once these first gigs pass."

Somehow Aubrey didn't think that she really believed that.

"We can come over and listen to the music if you want. I've been here for a long time so I know the music pretty well."

"Yeah, maybe."

The conversation fell silent and in it the three seemed to all notice that their plates were gone and their drink glasses were in their last dregs.

"So are we going or staying?" Chloe asked, looking surprisingly nervous. "If we stay I think another band is coming up. But," she once again swirled her straw. She's nervous, Aubrey realized and something about that threw her for a moment. _Why_ was she nervous? "I don't want to keep you guys if you have stuff to do." She had said it so fast that the words spilled together.

They decided to stay. Each ordered another drink and sat back, chatting lightly as they waited for the next band to come on, Chloe and Aubrey debating lightly about whether 'branch water' could be considered a local thing or not.

It was not, Aubrey was sure of that.

"Alllright, party people!" A man suddenly boomed from the front of the room. "We're Crawdaddy and we're here to give you something to dance about."

A song started and Aubrey's jaw hit the floor.

That _song!_

Beca exploded before Aubrey could speak.

"Okay what the fuck is up with this song? I hear it every time I turn on the radio. It's so weird!" She saw their faces and continued on fast, "No really though, every single fucking time. I've heard this freaking song on the radio since I freaking moved here more that I've heard Train. And that's saying something because every radio station ever has been playing 'Hey Soul Sister' every three songs since 2009."

Aubrey snorted into her drink, not going to argue at all. "I hate this song."

"I don't," the look on Chloe's face was one they hadn't seen there before, her nose was scrunched, her look doubtful, "I don't know. This song is - everywhere and I just, I can't get into it. Anything of theirs. Is this singing? I can't ever tell."

"Maybe let's walk then?" Beca suggested. "I mean," she glanced around uncertainly, "Is that something that we should do, or like," she let her words trail off, picking awkwardly at her napkin as her shoulders visibly stiffened.

"Yeah, come on." Chloe took their hands and pulled them both up.

Flustered, Aubrey simply followed.

The Quarter had transformed yet again as they stepped into the sticky night heat, people rushing around, sharing drinks, laughing, calling to one another. There were so many people. Aubrey growled a little as she was pushed this way and that, trying to keep Chloe in her line of sight.

"Com - go - over-"

"What?" Aubrey called back as a band of men and women with varying instruments turned the corner and started down their street, creating a deafening noise that was equal parts unpleasant and interesting. "I can't hear you!"

Chloe nodded her head in the direction of a street that looked less populated and gave her arm a little pull. Aubrey, in turn, grabbed Beca who was staring transfixed at the band and began to pull her too.

"Okay, that was what I had thought the freaking French Quarter was going to be like," Beca grumbled, her finger in her ear as they had turned the corner and the music behind them was now only loud instead of deafening.

"Beca!" Chloe gave a harsh sigh.

"What?" Beca started guiltily.

"It just sounds like you've already made your mind up about this city and that's just, that's so _sad_!"

Aubrey wasn't paying as close attention as she could have been so it took her a few extra steps to notice that Beca, who had been beside her, had stopped walking. Instead, she was standing a few feet back, her eyes large as she blinked slowly, her mouth open.

"Dude, I like, I really didn't mean to offend you or whatever," Beca cried, stumbling when someone bumped into her.

Chloe turned and when she realized everyone else had stopped, she did too. "No, it's not that." She sighed, "You didn't _offend_ me. It's just sad because there is so much to this city."

"I mean," Beca's shoulders gave a pathetic bob, "who doesn't like drunken twenty-one year olds?"

Chloe looked around them, love radiating from her as she did. "Think about the _culture_ , Beca. There's so much culture here!"

Beside them a man drunkenly screamed about 'hot beef injections' before tripping over nothing and sprawling half in the gutter. Chloe just stepped over him, all but skipping back over to Beca as though she hadn't even seen the man. Aubrey stepped quickly away, pulling the women with her. He looked a little too much like he would be sick very soon.

"Come on," Chloe continued. "The music, the art, the architecture; there is so much more to the city than the tourists. This is a place that is rich with history and traditions. It's a fascinating place to live."

Aubrey hadn't been raised in New Orleans, but she had spent a lot of her childhood visiting and she had to admit that she thought Chloe was right, and so she said so.

Chloe beamed at her. "Thank you, Aubrey."

Aubrey felt herself blush a bit and wondered why the hell she was so flustered. So flustered in fact that it took her a moment to notice that a man was trying to pass her on the sidewalk. She stepped to the right, only for him to step to the right. She stepped to the left and he followed. Chloe laughed a little at Aubrey's predicament.

"Walk much?" He grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Aubrey frowned, awkwardly moving to the far side of the walk so it couldn't happen with anyone else.

Beca gave a little half smile when they were as alone as they could be within the Quarter, "You both talk about the city like you love it so much."

"I do!"

Aubrey thought about that for a moment, composing herself. "I suppose I do as well." That was an understatement, she realized with surprise. She did love this city. "I spent most of my life preparing to move here so how could I not?"

"Didn't you love San Francisco?" Chloe asked, her head tilted to the side as she pulled on Beca's arm so the three could continue down the darkened street.

"Well _yeah_. But San Francisco is so different! Like, you literally can't even compare the two."

Aubrey laughed, "Exactly, Beca. You can't even compare the two."

"And different doesn't have to mean bad, you know," Chloe pointed out with a determined nod.

Beca just made a face, apparently not fond of being ganged up on.

"Just wait," Chloe gave a charming little nod, "you'll see. You just need to spend more time with the city before you can know you love it."

They walked for a few blocks in silence, all thinking their own thoughts, the loud of the Quarter going from a dull roar to background noise.

"Is there anywhere specific we're going?" Aubrey asked as she realized that she was just blindly following.

"Nope. It's just quieter out here." Chloe said with a smile.

So they walked and as they walked they began to talk. They hadn't really been able to have legitimate conversations over their table but now they could. They began with music. It turned out that Chloe was a top forty fan as well as anything New Orleans-centric, Beca didn't care and loved it all and Aubrey admitted her love for 80's classics - to which Chloe began singing 'Take On Me'. That made both Aubrey and Beca smile. She had a very nice voice.

"So Chloe," Beca started as they sat on a bench beside an esoteric pawn shop, "you said before that you were working on your Ph.D., right?"

"Oh," she deflated a little, "Yeah. I am."

"Oh my!" Aubrey laughed at her response.

"Sorry. It's just - ugh," her head fell into her hands, "My dissertation is written, like, totally done. It has been for _two_ years. All I need to do is send it to a reviewing committee, defend it and then I'm _done_."

"So then what's wrong?" She couldn't understand why anyone would prolong the process when they were that close to finishing.

"I don't - I don't know!" Chloe wailed, making Aubrey jump at the sudden noise. "It's all there and it's written and everything but there's something missing. Which is - ugh - it's frustrating because once I'm done with this I'll have my Ph.D. and I can do something _else!_ "

"What would you do?" Beca asked, leaning around Aubrey to see Chloe better. Aubrey let out an uncomfortable laugh and straightened a little more to give Beca the room without interrupting her own personal space. Beca didn't seem to notice her shift.

"I -uh," her face fell a little more.

Aubrey nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I understand not being sure what comes next or what _should_ come next."

Both looked at her in silent question, her eyebrows high.

Oh! Crap! She had said that out loud, hadn't she? Her mouth snapped closed. She hadn't meant to say anything at all. They didn't want to hear about her problems. They didn't even know her.

She felt a small shoulder push from one side and looked over to see Beca smiling at her again. She liked Beca's smile, she realized. It was…it was a good smile. Then Chloe joined in, first nudging her with her shoulder and then pushing so she was caught between them, trying to squeeze the answer out of her.

Aubrey gave a dry laugh, wishing her mouth hadn't betrayed her and began studying the window display of the shop across the narrow street.

She wished someone else would speak now. She wished they would stop watching her.

When she still said nothing, Chloe stepped in, "What did you mean when you said you've been preparing to move here your whole life?"

"Yeah," Beca gave her another nudge, "what's your story?"

"I don't have a story." Aubrey insisted, giving another dry titter.

"Everyone has a story. Come on, tell us." Chloe smiled at her, her hand reaching out to gently give her arm a squeeze.

Chloe liked to touch, Aubrey was learning and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. She liked it, but that made her nervous.

"I just," and then it was all spilling from her. After months of no one to speak to about this, no one who was willing to listen, no one who cared, she couldn't help it. She was mortified as she was doing it and yet she couldn't get her traitor mouth to close. "It was always known in my family that I would take over my grandmother's business. She began teaching me about it as a very small girl. We would drive around the city and she would tell me about architecture and New Orleans style. Sometimes she would bring my brother as well, but for the most part Chad was never interested. _I_ was the one who went to school for this. I have always loved it. We have always spoke openly as a family about my taking it over. She promised it to me when I was in my early twenties."

"What happened?" Chloe's warm eyes looked up at her with a sincerity that made Aubrey's heart break and soar all at once. She could feel them on either side of her, truly listening. They were _truly_ listening to her and that was exhilarating.

"When my grandmother passed, she put in her will that I would get her house and I would get the business, but my father thought that Chad would serve better as the majority owner. He gave him the predominant share and Chad is terrible. This has been terrible. The company was supposed to be mine. It's supposed to be running efficiently and effectively. It's supposed to be growing but instead it's slipping into the red under his influence and it's only been a few months. So, I understand about not being sure about what should come next because I do not know in my own life. Do I stay in this business with _Chad?_ I mean, you saw him! He's – horrible. So, do I watch it fail? That would break my grandmother's heart. That would break _my_ heart. Do I start my own business and poach our clients? I don't know. I don't know what to do." She finished suddenly, realizing she had been talking for too long. She paused and then, to her humiliation it continued to spill, "It was supposed to be mine. I love it. And it basically is. Chad is a horrible employee in every way but the artistic choices and that is not even half the job."

"Why would your dad do that?" Beca asked.

"My father," Aubrey gave a little dry laugh, " _The General_ ,"

"Military?"

"Marines."

Chloe nodded and, as if she wanted to give her support, leaned softly into her again.

Much to Aubrey's surprise, she found that she liked the close comfort of this stranger – of these strangers.

"Let me guess," Beca scoffed, leaning back and propping her elbow up on the back of the bench behind Aubrey, "he's not too fond of women in the workplace?"

"No," Aubrey muttered, suddenly finding a small snag in her thumbnail very interesting. "I went to _Harvard!_ My brother went to U.C. Santa Cruz and nearly failed! I don't," but she cut herself off again, "I'm sorry." Her stomach was swirling with guilt. She didn't mean to say so much.

"No!" Chloe's hand closed on her own, "Don't apologize. This sounds horrible. Way worse than a sloppy dissertation."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be handling it as well as you are." Beca offered. "It's okay to be upset about it."

"I'm sure you don't want to hear about,"

"Yes, we do!" Chloe cut her off. "Of course we do!" Aubrey sent her a small smile, determined to keep her mouth closed. "It really is okay to be upset about that. You said you were preparing for this your whole life!"

She gave a slow nod, humiliated when she felt her nose begin to burn and her throat tightening. She absolutely _would not_ cry! "I have."

"Honestly, Aubrey." Beca said. "What you're going through is fucked _up_."

She cleared her throat, resolutely studying the window across the way again.

"Hey," Chloe said in a soft voice. Her hand gave another squeeze and then finally fell away from Aubrey's. "Should I tell you guys all about this horrible tour I did the other day?"

Aubrey gave a small sniff, hiding it in a cough, "Yes. Please."

"Okay. But let's walk while I do."

Aubrey nodded. She felt a little better and that was strange. These women didn't even know her and she didn't know them and yet-

"Actually," Chloe paused studying the bright lights they would have to head back into, "let's go back to my place."

"What?" Aubrey choked. She wasn't sure why that had come as such a surprise. Of course Chloe lived in the Quarter, that fit her perfectly and she knew that Chloe hadn't meant – her mind had drifted and that was just ridiculous. Anything that she could imagine at that moment would not be what Chloe had meant and yet, her hands instantly began to sweat and she felt a wave of nauseated butterflies lick her insides.

"You live near here?" Beca asked, her hands sliding into her pockets.

"Yeah, really close. And if you don't want to deal with those drunk twenty-one year olds," Beca scoffed, rolling her eyes in an overly dramatic and half laughing kind of way, "then we should just go there."

Perhaps now was a good time for her to call it a night. She watched Beca and Chloe start forward, both seeming nonplussed by the idea and frowned. She didn't _want_ to cut the night off early. And she was sober. Still, she felt the need to cut herself off, which was pointless. She wouldn't be alone with either of them and an attraction was simply an attraction. She was an adult! She could -

"You coming?"

Aubrey jumped, "Yes."

It turned out that Chloe didn't live in the heart of the Quarter like Aubrey would have thought but instead they continued along the edge of it for a few blocks until they were in front of a small and somewhat dingy bar.

"You live over this?" Aubrey asked eying the rowdy bar and the single door just to the side of it.

"You get used to the noise." Chloe shrugged, understanding the question. "And it's usually pretty quiet after three."

"In the morning?" Aubrey cried.

"Yeah." Chloe grunted, shaking the metal door hard. The loud clanking made Aubrey wince. "Sorry, it's - there we go." The metal gave a grind and then popped open. "Come on."

They climbed the stairs and Chloe let them into the tiniest apartment that Aubrey had ever seen. It wasn't an apartment but a studio that looked like at one point it had been the storage room for the bar below and converted to a living space. There was one large room that had been broken into sections according to the furniture. In the far corner was a full-sized bed that sat in a small grooved niche, a skylight above it. In the middle of the floor beside the bed was a small rug and a two-chair dining room table. Then, beside them at the entrance was a chaise and a coffee table, clearly a tiny living room area that was just large enough for one.

Chloe dropped her purse on the chaise, "Come on in."

Aubrey stepped into the room, feeling strange to be standing in Chloe's bedroom. She glanced to the side and noticed a door that was presumably the bathroom and another that lead to a kitchen roughly the size of a pin box.

She placed her purse on the small table, unsure of what else to do and doubtful that the three of them would fit in this room comfortably.

"Uh Chloe, your windows are on the floor." Beca frowned, pointing beside her bed.

"Well yeah! This was probably an attic once." She said it so flippantly that Beca and Aubrey exchanged amused looks. "Do you guys want something to drink?"

"Sure," Beca nodded, seeming far more comfortable than Aubrey was feeling.

"Sorry the place is kind of messy. I wasn't expecting company."

Beca shrugged as Chloe went to the small shelving behind the table and grabbed a few cups.

"Aubrey, will you grab the bottle from the freezer?"

She gave a nod. This was strange, yes, but she could handle this. She would simply...

...She hadn't meant to scream. She really hadn't. She immediately felt terrible for doing so. But oh god!

"Oh, snatch!" Chloe cried, her face openly mortified. "Oh god, was there a roach?"

Hand on her heart, Aubrey gave a nod, realizing that she had also jumped a good four feet away from the kitchen doorway. She gasped a few times, trying to take in some air despite the fact that her lungs had clamped down on her, not allowing her to breathe. "I'm _sorry_ , I-"

"No, I'm sorry! Ugh," Chloe moaned. She had just sat down on the bed and now she let her head fall forward into her hands. "It's always so _embarrassing_. Ohmy _god!_ "

"It's just so _big_ ," Aubrey blurted, realizing she probably shouldn't have instantly.

Beca, who seemed to suddenly be three shades paler, craned her neck so she could glance into the kitchen and then was on her feet, stumbling backward and into the wall. "Dude, that is not a roach! That is a freaking monster!"

Aubrey looked around. Was it on her? Somehow she felt like the bug was on her. The apartment was a little messy but it wasn't _dirty_. Why did Chloe have such a big roach?

"Dude, _kill_ it!" Beca shouted, all but climbing the wall.

"Oh my god, I know! It's so embarrassing." Chloe cried, her voice trembling.

Aubrey didn't mean to move but she realized she had joined Beca on the other side of the room, her heart still pounding, tripping a little in her heels.

The roach was giant. It was at least two inches. She had of course seen one of the legendary New Orleans roaches before. Her brother had told her all about them when she was four, told her that they were deeply poisonous and would make your skin blister and crack. He had told her that they would wait until you died and then they would come and use your body to lay their eggs. The summer after, he caught one and had chased her with it until she cried and, unfortunately, had lost control of her bladder. It was the birthplace of her brother's favorite nickname for her.

She was an adult now and yet she was still a little irrationally afraid of the bugs.

The sound of wheezing drew her attention away from herself. "Beca, are you alright?" She had just noticed that Beca had her hands clasped around Aubrey's bicep like she planned on shoving Aubrey forward if the bug somehow came at them.

"What?" She looked at her hands and then gave a small forced laugh, "Sorry, I uh, I don't like bugs." But she didn't let go.

"I'm sorry!" Chloe wailed, "It's the Quarter. We keep putting stuff down for them but I live over a bar. I'm sorry. They aren't actually even roaches; they're palmetto bugs which, okay, they are roaches but not the type that you're thinking. They aren't from messiness. They just hatch or I don't know, come up from the ground or something every summer."

" _What?_ " Beca sounded like someone had just stepped on her lungs, her eyes roughly the size of dinner plates. Even Aubrey had to admit that the idea of their shiny disgusting bodies pulling themselves from the earth was a thing of nightmares.

"They just come inside sometimes! Oh god, I'll get it."

They watched horrified as Chloe got up and, using a cup and some paper, captured the bug. She turned toward them, the little disgusting thing – correction, the not so little thing squirming around in the glass making Aubrey cringe.

This was ridiculous. It was just a bug. There was no reason to – she yelped as Chloe nearly tripped over nothing, a move that would have sent the bug flying at her.

"Sorry. Will you open the window?" She sheepishly asked.

Beca let out a cry and tried to move fast to get away from any and all windows. Instead she tripped and took both of them down.

Aubrey barely had a chance to notice, though. She cried out as an elbow planted itself firmly in her gut as Beca scrambled over her in an attempt to get as far away as possible.

"I'm sorry," Chloe whined.

"Don't apologize!" Aubrey shook her head, steeling herself and opening the window. She tried hard not to show her abhorrence when Chloe flung it free and the insect _flew_ away.

"Is it gone?" Beca asked, her voice muffled by the wall that she had her forehead firmly planted against.

"Yeah, it is," Chloe said, sounding a little bit like she might cry. "I'm sorry, Beca, are you okay?"

"What? Psssh, yeah. Of course. Totally. No big deal. I just, I don't like bugs."

"I noticed." Aubrey cocked an eyebrow at her, rubbing her stomach that was still sore from Beca's elbow.

"I'm sorry."

Aubrey shook her head, straightening and forcing herself to march into the kitchen and retrieve the bottle. She was not a child. She was an adult now. "It just surprised me. I've never seen one that - large before." She couldn't help but to notice that when she came out of the kitchen Beca was sitting with her feet distinctly off the ground in the wooden chair.

"You need a cat," Beca announced, glancing covertly around.

"I had one!" Chloe said, her voice still shaking, "When I first moved here. They were so big that she was afraid of them! I'm really sorry, maybe we should,"

"No," Aubrey announced, making up her mind. "Chloe, don't apologize. It's part of city life."

"It's the _south_! God, don't be here for the termite swarm, Beca, if that freaked you out."

Aubrey paused, considering on asking but then deciding very pointedly that she wouldn't. Instead she saw that Chloe's cheeks were still as red as her hair so Aubrey poured her a drink and waited expectantly as Chloe drank it down. "Stop apologizing, please." It wasn't necessary. If anything she felt bad for reacting so violently. It was just a bug.

"Okay. Thanks." She said in a small voice.

"So, what was that you said about this city?" Beca grinned.

"Beca, you can't blame the roaches for why you don't like it!"

"I don't not like it...totally. Though, maybe I don't now."

Aubrey settled primly into the other wooden chair, trying hard not to smile, "So you really don't like bugs, hmm?"

"Okay, shut up. We all have our things!" Beca cried.

They spent a while teasing Beca then before they moved on to other topics, talking a little more about work, about the Quarter, about anything and everything.

Eventually the trio switched from the alcohol they were sipping to glasses of water and coffee, discussing great jazz bands and which recordings were best. They played a few albums and made a snack, and teased Beca some more when, hours later, she was still wary of entering the kitchen.

As time passed, Aubrey found that it was easy to laugh with them, easier than she had expected it to be and than it had been all night. She forgot to worry about her work problems or her brother or the fact that she didn't know these girls at all. Instead she just laughed with them, enjoying their company.

"I'm not sure." Chloe thought, "I think I was eight."

"Eight?" Aubrey laughed, "You were eight when you had your first kiss?"

"Well, are we talking about first make out or we talking about just the first _kiss_?"

"I think either is fair game," Beca nodded, letting out a huge yawn. "Although, if there was tongue at eight then that might freak me out a little bit."

"Then yeah, I was eight."

"Dude!"

"Wait, no!" Chloe cried and then broke into uproarious cackles. "No tongue! Just a kiss! Just a kiss!" She laughed until she gave a small snort. "He took me behind our swing set and he told me he thought I was really pretty and he kissed me."

"Aww." Beca grinned, "And what about you Aubrey?"

Aubrey felt her cheeks warm as she admitted, "I was twenty."

"What?" They both cried.

"I was very dedicated to my school work, that's all."

"How old were you the first time you had sex then?" Chloe asked, slumped on the floor beside them.

Her mouth opened and closed, already embarrassed by the answer, "I was twenty."

"Was it at the same time?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh my god, Aubrey," Chloe snorted, "you're so funny."

She gave half a smile, liking the way that Chloe said that.

"Oh my god, guys," Beca sat up straighter in her chair with an obvious struggle, "it's almost five."

"What? No way!" Chloe shot back, her eyes wide. "Oh my god, no wonder I'm starting to get tired."

"Starting?" Aubrey gasped, suddenly needing to yawn now that she knew the time.

"Well, I tend to stay up kind of late."

"No wonder you don't mind the bar being loud until three." And actually, now that she thought of it, the bar had gone quiet a while ago hadn't it? "It's a good thing I don't have work in the morning!" She stretched, feeling her muscles ache and pull in a satisfying way.

"Dude, _when_ did it get to be so late?"

"Beca, I blame you!"

"What?" Beca gave a lofty scoff.

"Mmm," Aubrey agreed, just wanting to be in on the teasing, "it's the coffee."

"Okay, but you guys totally wanted the coffee too."

"That's beside the point." Aubrey insisted, laughing with Chloe when Beca rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed the time. They all looked a little worse for wear, their eyes heavy, their bodies slumped a little too low in their seats.

"Okay, whatever jerkwads. I guess that means it's time to go, doesn't it?"

Chloe frowned, "Are you guys sure? Are you okay to drive?"

"Of course, Chloe, but thank you." Aubrey shook her head. She was not one who enjoyed sleeping in other people's homes.

"You sure? One of you could take the couch and one of you could share the bed with me if you're too tired."

"No, no!" Aubrey said quickly, looking around for her purse. "I'm sure that we will be alright."

"Yeah, I'm good."

Saying goodbye was something that it seemed no one really wanted to do. They hung around at the downstairs door, watching a few stragglers walking up and down the streets and prolonging the moment.

The night had been fun. In truth, it had been more than fun. Aubrey couldn't remember a time when she had enjoyed a night so much.

"Will you both text me when you get home so I know you didn't, I don't know, get mugged or something?"

"Of course," Aubrey gave a nod. She wasn't sure why she was feeling a bit shy but she toyed with her keys, unable to look up.

She didn't want the evening to end.

"Okay. Drive safe, okay."

Chloe looked for a moment like she might hug them but seemed to think the better of it.

"We will be fine. We promise." Beca said, crossing her heart. "Seriously. Go inside, it's late."

"Watch out that the bugs don't get you, Beca," Aubrey said through a yawn.

"Wha-"

"Or the rats," Chloe added.

"WHAT?" Beca cried and then looking between them she began to stomp off in the opposite direction Aubrey needed to go. "You guys suck!"

"Awwe, Beca, come back!" They both called through their laughter.

All they got in return was a laugh and a shout of, "Go to bed, Chloe! Text me too, Aubrey!"

"Okay!" Aubrey grinned, wiping under her eyes from where her tear-filled laughter had made her makeup run. "I will." She turned back to Chloe, surprised that her eyes were already on her, burrowing into her. Something about it made her stomach flip. She had this way of looking that made her feel naked.

"Did you have fun?"

"I did. Very much so. Thank you for having us."

"You're welcome," Chloe said with a wink, "Drive safe, okay?"

"I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Because she didn't have another choice, Aubrey started down the street to the lot where her car was parked. At the corner, she glanced back and was embarrassingly amused to see Chloe still standing there, waiting. She gave a little wave, which Aubrey gave back and then she stepped around the corner.

The night had been a good one, maybe even a wonderful one. Maybe even the best one.

She clicked down the sidewalk and as she walked she couldn't help but to notice just how beautiful the sunrise really was.

* * *

I've been saying for the last two years that I've been writing fanfiction that I was going to start replying to my reviews. So. I'm actually going to try and do that on this story! Here's the thing though, I'm going to do it on Ao3. This site is a pain in the ass and I kind of hate it! So head over to Ao3 if you want me to respond! It might take me a while but I'll try! So if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey all, got a quick note for ya! A few of my guest reviewers have been concerned about the realism of Aubrey's father's actions regarding Silvia's will. I get it why there was a strong reaction; it was cruel! The thing is though, I try to research really well before I write _anything,_ so I spoke with my best friend who is a lawyer before I wrote this plot line out.  
I can say with certainty that a lot of seniors sign over their power of attorney to someone else as they get older. In such a situation it's true that the deceased's wishes can be overpowered by said person.  
In the end, however, Silvia's wishes were technically fulfilled, Aubrey is part owner of the business and we all know that the legal system is all about loopholes and technicalities.  
Sorry if you guys don't like that plot line, of course, but legally it's written correctly. (At least that is how it works in CA)  
I also would like to point out that it's also a small side plot line in a story about the three of them. But I always say and I mean it when I say that it's okay to not read the story! I totally support that! Please don't feel as though you need to leave me messages to let me know that you won't be.  
And those of you who are reading and enjoying, thanks so much! I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you'll have just as much reading it! I'm really excited to start posting every week again because I'm excited to get into the meat of this story!

* * *

 **Prologue:**

 **Chloe**

* * *

"I'm sorry, Pete."

Her boyfriend…well…her now _ex_ -boyfriend's shoulders slumped, his eyes narrowing, his face twisting like a little boy whose balloon had just been popped. It made Chloe want to hug him. It just absolutely broke her heart. Pete had always been kind of a man's man. He played basketball 'with the boys' every Sunday. He loved it when Chloe sat on the sidelines, in something cute, to cheer him on. He was the kind of guy who would sink a dunk and then turn, expecting her to run into his arms shouting and squealing so he could spin her around and kiss her in front of everyone. All of which she had _happily_ done. He promised to be a C.E.O. for Entergy Corp within the next five years, and none of his bosses questioned his resolve. He owned a successful beer garden. He had a six pack and a beard. He loved dogs. She had never seen him grow emotional except when he talked about how much she loved his mother and little sisters. Only now, the squint of his eyes made her positive that he was holding back tears.

"Chloe, I don't get it. We're so _good_ together."

"I know," she nodded, chewing her bottom lip. "I know we are, Pete. It's not that."

"Then what? Explain to me why my girl is dumping me out of nowhere when she _says_ she knows how good we are together."

The thing was, she _did_ know they were good together. He was never annoyed by her energy, she didn't mind his habit of showing off whenever she was around, he liked that she was smart and she thought that the sex was great. He made her laugh, and that was important. He liked the same types of food she liked. They were awesome together. A flood of insecurity washed through her. Was she making the right choice here? After all, would she really know what the real thing looked like when it came? How did you know? What was it supposed to look like? She was sure that his polite Southern manners would win over her Texan parents. Her brothers would love trying to kick his ass at basketball, and her sisters would be delighted by his good looks and charm.

 _Was_ she making a mistake?

"Come on, Chlo." He said when she remained silent, "We have tickets to see 'The Nutcracker' with my parents next week. It's Christmas. No one dumps a guy this close to Christmas."

She could tell he was trying to be funny, and his smile did indeed still make her swoon a little bit but no, this was exactly the point. She couldn't meet his parents!

He was an amazing catch. In every way, he was everything that she could want, but something was missing. She didn't feel _that thing_ , that undeniable need to be near him, to touch him, to make herself part of him. He was a perfect one. He just wasn't _her_ one.

"Pete, I'm sorry." She reached over and took his hands, kissing the knuckles. "But this is the right thing to do. We're both too old to date someone when you know it can't be more than it is."

"Ouch," he chuckled, wiping briskly under his eyes, "dumping me _and_ calling me old."

"Hey," she gave his hands a tug. "I'm not _dumping_ you. The term dumping implies that person number one doesn't care about person number two and that's not true. Not for me. I care about you a lot, Pete. You're a great guy. Really."

He sighed, pulling his hands gently from hers and running them through his hair and over his beard, "Yeah, okay," he said weakly. "But it still means that I don't get the girl."

"Don't think of it that way. Please." She tried to catch his eye and had to lean almost entirely over to do it. "Think of it more as I'm getting out of the way of another girl. One who will love your Elvis albums as much as you do and will eat your god-awful waffles without calling them god-awful." Pete chuckled, and Chloe was glad. She didn't want to hurt him. She was going to miss him even.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I'm not your _one_."

"No. I'm sorry. I want you to be. I wish you were, Pete. But you're not."

"No, don't apologize, kiddo." His voice had grown a little gruff. "I'm glad you told me. I just, damn if I didn't want to be."

"I know." She gave him a soft smile and was glad when he gave one back. "Come on, let me get you a drink." She stood from her chaise but Pete got up with her.

"No, it's okay, Chloe."

She frowned, worry fluttering for a moment. They had been so good together. She really didn't want to see that memory bloodied. "Pete," she reached over and let her hand rest against his heart, enjoying the simple human to human connection of knowing it was beating somewhere under her palm. "I would really love it if we could part as friends-"

"Sure, sure. Don't get me wrong, Chloe. Friends. Happily. But my pride could use a little," he chuckled again, "you know. I think I'm just gonna hit the road."

She shuffled in place, frowning, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll go catch the last bit of the Saints game with a few buddies."

She smiled a little. "Who Dat!"

Pete's laughter filled her studio, just as the sounds of him had filled the space as they made love, and it melted her heart a little bit.

She loved him in a way. She really would miss him.

"Yeah, exactly. Alright, come here, sunshine girl." He pulled her in and wrapped her in a hug.

She had known the kiss was coming. Pete had always been a sucker for her lips and she had expected him to try for at least one more. And she liked it. She loved the scratchy way his face felt against hers, the way he kissed her softly but with purpose, a quiet kind of domineering.

She had known he would try and deepen the kiss too but it felt good to be wrapped so tightly in his arms, so when she should have stopped it, she didn't.

She liked his touch, how his kiss was gentle and firm, she liked the way he was kissing her with purpose. It wasn't until he had his hand on one of her breasts, lightly stroking and he was about to lift her off the ground to carry her back to the bed that she gasped and pushed him back.

"Sorry." He gave her an abashed smile, "Habit, I guess."

She nodded. She knew that he had probably hoped that sleeping together one more time might change her mind. She couldn't blame him. After all the sex had been great. "It's okay. Me too."

"And with that. I'm gonna go." He gave a sigh, his shoulders still slumped and studied her face for a moment. "Okay. Bye."

"Bye, Pete." She gave his bicep an affectionate squeeze and watched him through the door.

Chloe sighed when he was gone. She had known it was the right thing to do and so once she had made up her mind to do it, she hadn't been all of that sad. Now, standing in her studio with the smell of him fading for the very last time, the sadness swelled.

She turned, her slippered feet padding under her as she went to her small kitchen and rummaged through her refrigerator to find the last hidden chocolates left over from her birthday. Pete had bought them for her and as usual, she had saved half for just such an occasion. She dug them out and then she settled on the floor, her back pressed up to her bed so she could look out of her window at the Quarter.

She hated having to do that. She hated that she had to do it. It was her third break up in as many years. All of them had been amazing people but none of them had been her one – that _one_ person that will be your everything.

That was still coming, right? They were still coming for her.

Or had she turned down the street a block early on her way to work one day and accidentally missed him or her? Had she looked down for her keys in her purse in that exact moment when they walked by – or maybe decided not to go to the dinner party where they were supposed to meet? Had she inadvertently done something that had knocked them off of their planned course? Had they decided to stay with someone who was meant to be an ex or had they not been paying attention one day and walked in front of a moving car?

She gulped and pushed that thought from her mind.

 _Where were they? Where was the mystery guy or gal?_

She nibbled on the chocolate and tried to ignore the feeling that was filling her, the feeling that had been the primary indicator that she needed to break up with Pete, that it was time.

Loneliness. Loneliness and impatience.

She was ready. She was ready to know them, to start loving them. She was ready to stay in at night in favor of watching whatever TV show they were in the middle of, ready for cooking for two, ready for sex filled with passion and love. She was ready to be married. She was ready for kids and the next phase of her life to begin.

She had broken up with Pete because she had known he wasn't the one.

But where the hell was _her one_? What was taking _so long_?

Whoever they were, man or woman, brown eyes or blue, funny or serious – they were still coming…right?

* * *

 ** _Chapter 4_**

"I bet you get a lot of stupid questions, huh? Or like, do people just say stupid things a lot? People are always drunk and stuff, right?"

Chloe gave a small laugh and stepped back a little from the man on her tour. She did her best to make it seem as though she was simply checking on the progress of the crowd, but couldn't help wondering if he realized at all that he was describing himself. She didn't think he did. That was the beauty and the curse of drinking, right?

They were all waiting outside of 'The Sultan's Palace' for those who were taking photographs, and Chloe was ready to move on soon. Okay, it was more that she was ready to get away from this guy and his friends soon...preferably very soon.

She had known that one of the men would approach her that night. Over the last few years, she had gotten a sense for how drunk men - and sometimes women - worked. Their ruckus teasing and shoving, all with one eye on her had been a dead giveaway. It was like a primitive pre-mating ritual that she saw consistently, similar to monkeys that flung their feces at one another. Overall, she didn't mind the fact that she encountered a lot of drunk people; which was good because it might as well be part of the job description. Most of her tour goers at night were drunk, especially during the Haunted History tours, such as the one she was doing now. It was as though alcohol opened them up to their hidden beliefs in ghosts. She understood that. Believing was about removing your judgments and inhibitions, which was _exactly_ what alcohol did.

The problem was, she had a bit of a hard spot for newly-legal men who were trying out public drinking for the first time. That was probably because they often had a soft spot for her. It was ironic really that she had argued with Beca the night they had gone to dinner because, in reality, she agreed totally. Freshly legal men were impossible and this one, the smell hit her again and she cringed. He smelled a lot like he had thrown up a few times earlier in the evening.

"Do you get hit on a lot?" The man, Jeff it turned out, asked. Behind him, his two other friends were hissing with laughter, punching each other in the arms and giggling. "'Cuz you're like really pretty."

Chloe flashed him her best professionally polite grin, "Thank you. You're so sweet. Now, if you could just step back onto the curb. There you go!" And then, feeling like she might have been a little too cross she added in a teasing singsong, "I've never had anyone get hit by a car on my tour, and I don't want to start tonight!"

Jeff gave a braying laugh that was much louder than Chloe thought the joke really deserved, his sweaty face turning alarmingly purple.

Chloe grimaced. He was a little bit…gross. His cargo shorts were dirty like he had fallen and his 'kiss me, I'm Irish' shirt left little doubt about whether or not he had a mural on his ceiling of beer bottle caps, probably roughly in the shape of a naked woman.

She sighed, suddenly feeling deeply guilty. She was being mean, and it wasn't even his fault that her patience was thin tonight. At least not entirely. Yes, he was gross, he smelled bad, and he was standing very close to her. But, the real issue was that she had gone on a pre-tour date, and it had gone badly enough that maybe it was harming her tolerance of all men right now.

It hadn't been a _bad_ date, exactly...alright, that wasn't true, it had been bad. She was just softening it because she felt sorry for how rude she had been in her mind about Jeff. The date had been bad. He just hadn't been a bad guy. As a matter of fact, Chloe thought that he even seemed like a _nice_ guy…who maybe just thought women wanted men to be a little overly aggressive and rude. Either way, she was sure that he wasn't for her. He wasn't her one. She glanced at Jeff, who was all teeth and red, sweaty, drunken face and mentally gave in; okay, the date had been horrible. He had been so sleazy and between him earlier and this guy and his friends now, Chloe just really wanted a shower and some girl time. No boys allowed.

"Okay guys, let's head down this way and next I'll take you to one of the freakiest places in the city with one of the worst stories." She walked them down the street, the three men at her side, a little too close for her comfort.

"What are you doing after the tour?" Jeff was almost jogging to keep up with her, constantly glancing down at her tall booted heels in surprise.

She wasn't going that fast, she was simply trying to move quickly enough that he and his drunk buddies wouldn't find the effort worth it and would fall to the back of the crowd. It had worked for her before, but luck was clearly not on her side tonight.

"Um," she glanced around looking for an out, for some fact that she could give to overshadow his question but they were walking through a bland part of the Quarter now.

"Do you ever have drinks with guys from your tour?"

"Not usually!" Chloe laughed, picking up her pace. She was normally better at handling this. Actually, matters of the heart, whether it was pain, romance or sex were all kind of her forte. She just understood them and knew how to handle them, but she was a little off of her game today.

Maybe she needed to call her friends and see if they were free tonight. That seemed like a good idea. Stacie had been on her case for weeks to spend time together outside of work. She could do that.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost walked by the house, "Oh! We're here! Alright, everybody! Who here watches American Horror-" but her words trailed off as just to the left of them another tour was departing. In the very back, holding hands were two women, a blonde and a brunette.

She almost laughed, remembering the way that Aubrey's hand had shot up, her look sour on the day that she had met them in this very spot. Chloe still didn't think that Aubrey calling her names was funny at all, but somehow the memory had taken on an endearing glow. Maybe that was simply because that was when she had met them or perhaps because she loved to think about what made people tick and Aubrey had become a favorite to hypothesize about. Perhaps it was that the memory made her smile now after that awesome night two weeks ago.

The couple noticed her staring and, looking both flattered and intrigued, gave her a smile before following the others, leaving Chloe to enjoy the butterflies that had suddenly awoken within her.

She could call Stacie or any of her other friends _but_ she could also call Aubrey and Beca. Her heart gave a happy little thwap at the idea.

This wasn't the first time she had thought about this, either. Every tour she did through the Quarter took her to the LaLaurie mansion whether the tour was about ghosts, vampires, history, or architecture. Each time she stood out front and gave her memorized speech, she thought of the two of them, and she thought about that night they had spent together. They had basically been strangers when they met, and yet it had been perfect. It had been like a perfect kiss with someone you really like or a really good book when you're sick in bed...or maybe even as perfect as an exactly right cup of coffee on a cold morning.

It had been wonderful, and so she had been thinking about them a lot over the last two weeks, but she had never thought about _seeing_ them again.

Maybe she should.

She picked her speech back up, doing her best to ignore the leering of the three men.

Chloe finished speaking a few minutes later, pleased that though the speech was growing tiresome, it still seemed to captivate others. "I'll wait a few minutes while you guys take a few photos!" And as usual, the crowd began bustling around, taking pictures of the house, of one another, and of her.

"Hey pretty tour guide lady." Jeff stumbled up to her, "Can I have a picture too?"

"Oh!" She smiled, not totally pleased. "Of course."

Jeff threw his arm around her, and one of his friends did the same on the other side. She clicked on an automatic smile but as she was posing with the three men, two hands dangerously low on her back. She made up her mind.

A bad date and gross frat boys? Tonight seemed like the perfect night to call them.

It didn't occur to her that it might be weird or strange, she just opened a group text the moment she was free and sent one to both phone numbers she had gotten. "Hey guys, it's Chloe. I know it's kind of last minute but I had a horrible date earlier and have a few totally gross guys on my tour and I could so use some girl time. Any interest in meeting me?" She held her breath as she hit send and then thrust the phone back into her pocket. "Alright guys, follow me!" She called, her voice suddenly much more cheerful.

It was an agonizingly long time until she could check her phone again. She went through another house and a quick garden before, paused and waiting at a red light, she did something she rarely did when actually _on_ a tour, she pulled out her phone to check it.

The first text was from Beca: "YEEEEEEEES! I still haven't recovered from work and I could use a drink or two."

The second was from Aubrey: "That would be very nice. Thank you."

Chloe frowned, trying her best to analyze Aubrey's response. Beca's was _awesome_ , she loved it and she loved the enthusiasm but it bothered her that she couldn't tell if Aubrey agreed for the sake of politeness or if she actually wanted to go. This wasn't new. Oh my god, she had been _so_ frustrated with Aubrey the last time they had spent time together because she was _sure_ there was a freak side to her that didn't include being abnormally uptight and put together. After all, Aubrey's favorite Anne of Green Gables book was the _first_ ; the one where little redheaded Anne couldn't get out of her own way enough to survive. The story was full of moments of little vivacious Anne going too far, of saying the wrong thing, or Anne just being Anne, wild and free, and that was enough to get her into trouble. Chloe was sure her preference had to mean something, that it was a secret hint of who she was under all of that. She was positive that there was something amazing and _large_ that would come spilling out if Chloe could just crack the carefully constructed shell that hid her true personality.

And then there was Beca...and she was just as intriguing. There was something quietly smirky and snarky about her, even though she rarely went beyond casual snark. It was as though sarcasm radiated from her like a light perfume. She was silent a lot of the time, but it wasn't that which gave her the feel of mischief. Maybe it was the way her eyes were always on you, the way they twinkled like she was about to laugh. She looked at her in a way that made Chloe feel like she understood her and was entirely amused by all that Chloe was. And yet, when you spoke to her she was so kind and attentive.

And her attitude about the city! Chloe was sure that it was all flash and bravado; a mix of pride for her hometown and sadness that she had left it. Whatever the reason, it was going to be her personal mission to make Beca see that this city was a wonderful one.

It was bizarre.

They were still strangers, weren't they? She felt like she knew them and that was just silly. It was true they had spent hours together but overall, they were still strangers.

She shivered a little despite the warm night. They were both so interesting and she just wanted to know more. As a matter of fact, she was _going to_ know more.

Chloe led the crowd along St. Peter Street beside Jackson Square a little while later, tired and ready for her last tour of the day to be finished. Her feet hurt from standing all day at Basin Street Station where she had been going over local histories with the author of a murder mystery book, and then from the two tours she had given that night.

"That was awesome. How did you learn all of that stuff?" Jeff asked, leaning against the metal bars surrounding Jackson Square, the ending point for this tour.

"I guess I've always been a facts kind of girl." Chloe gave him a polite smile, checking her phone.

"What, you just find it _interesting_?" He scoffed as though the idea was funny. "I bet you were one of those totally hot nerd girls in high school, weren't you?"

Chloe frowned, "Um,"

"No, that's a good thing! Like, the girl who had both brains and looks."

"You're so sweet," she said but she said it mechanically because while she didn't feel it, she had to say _something_. "I've always found it all to be interesting." She glanced around, trying to find an escape route. She was done for the night but she was cornered. This happened sometimes. Usually, it was simply that a person wanted to chat or wanted to know more about a particular tour spot and they were just too drunk to realize that Chloe was trying to leave.

"I don't know. I've never really thought about ghosts and stuff."

"That makes sense," she said, not really listening to her own words. Instead, she let the practiced response come out of her, the one she always gave when someone said something like that. "I guess most people don't, but it's kind of in our blood here. Um, if you'll-"

"So, what are you doing now? You wanna come have a drink with us?"

"Oh," she shook out her hair, her hands going to her hips, "thank you but I'm actually meeting a few friends."

"We're buying." He offered with a grin.

"No really, I'm meeting a few people."

"Oh yeah? Anyone interesting?"

"What would you consider interesting?"

"Hot!" His friend blurted, earning a rough shove from Jeff.

"What the fuck, dude?" His friend bellowed, pushing him back.

Jeff, however, was not to be challenged in front of a pretty girl because he angrily shoved again, sending his friend flying to the floor.

"Guys! Please don't fight, okay?" That was all she needed. That would mean an hour of paperwork and talking to the police if it got bad enough. "It's not worth it. We're all friends here. Come on, get up." She helped pull Jeff's friend back to his feet, grunting when the weight of him pressed into her side, smelling too much of Axe body spray and threatening to tip her right back over. "Hey! Whoa!" She cried as he leaned, a little bodily at the sudden shift of gravity.

"You know what I want?" He mumbled, seeming unaware that he was falling in slow motion as Chloe's strength gave out. She hadn't realized that he was this drunk. "I want a picture...and a kiss."

"You do, huh?" She gave a grunt, wondering if he was fully aware of the pressure he was putting on her. "I don't think I can hold you up." She heard her heels grinding on the stone walkway as she was pushed backward an inch.

"Errr, um, I got it?"

Chloe craned her neck to see both Beca and Aubrey rushing forward. "Oh my god, _guys_!" Chloe gasped as her knee began to shake.

The weight of him was suddenly shifted away and then off. "Oh thank god." She hadn't been so sure she was going to be able to keep that up much longer. She grinned at Beca, who was propping him up against Jeff. "Thanks!" She chirped, pleased to see them.

"Thank you _so much_ for the help, _gentlemen_." Aubrey hissed, making Jeff and his other friend blink rather stupidly as the third finally found his footing.

She stretched popping her neck once, thankful the weight of him was gone.

Wait, they had shown up together! Had they _come_ together? Had they been together before?

The thought made her a little unhappy, which was silly, right? Had they been hanging out? She supposed that was entirely reasonable and there was no need to be jealous and yet she was…a little bit, which was silly too.

"You guys come together?"

"Nope." Beca said, still eyeing the men with a glare, "We met up about a block over."

"Oh." Why did it even matter? It didn't matter, other than she liked them and wanted to be a part of the friendship. Ugh, her brain was a little fuzzy. She needed to get out of there and away from the stink of Jeff.

"So, ladies, we were just asking your friend if she wanted,"

"A drink?" Beca cried, her grin suddenly five times too big as she swung around to face them, "That sounds awesome! Right?"

Chloe and Aubrey shared a glance, both clearly thinking that sounded like something far less than awesome.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Beca cheered, "Let's do this!"

"Awesome!" Jeff had backed away a little at Beca's sudden show of enthusiasm but now he was beaming at Chloe as though she had just agreed to a date.

"Uh, Beca," she tried softly but Beca shrugged her off. She really, really, _really_ didn't want to go for drinks with these guys.

"Dude, three for three." The one who had nearly taken Chloe to the ground suddenly pointed out, laughing hysterically. "Dibs on blondie."

Aubrey, who clearly was not used to the drunken shenanigans of young men, looked totally and completely mortified. Chloe had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Awesome!" Beca cried, high-fiving one of the men. "Tell you what. You want Aubrey? Awesome. She's all yours. You guys should _totally_ divvy us up based on which one of you wants us." She gave a sarcastic head nod, "Like _so_ much yes. Oh my _god_ , yes! Most men don't realize being treated like property is a _real_ turn on for most women. I don't know about them, but that totally turns me on. Like, _wow_. Like total panty-ruiner."

"Beca!" Aubrey hissed, looking slightly panicked that she had just been offered up like a prized pig.

Beca's hand went out to stop Aubrey, holding a finger up behind her without actually looking.

"But, here's the thing. I want to spend a few minutes talking to these two _and_ you know, we have to put on our faces and look pretty and all of that," she drolled, her voice dragging a little as if to say 'oh you know us silly women'. "Plus, there's a lot of awkward paperwork and shit that the tour guide here has to do _so_ ," and her eyelashes actually fluttered, her face going suddenly sweet and flirtatious in a way that both intrigued Chloe and amused her, "why don't you go in and get us a table?"

 _Ooooooh!_ Suddenly Chloe understood a little better.

"Right behind you, no right there, yeaaaah, there you go. That bar. Yeah, good job. 'Kay, give us like ten minutes and we'll meet you? Awesome. Hells yeah, totally order for me! Yeah! I love it! I _love it_! I don't know, the girliest most bullshit prissy drink that you think women should be allowed. Fuck yeah, I'll take a wine spritzer! Maybe you can even just add some chocolate, a tampon and a DVD of 'Beaches'. What? Oh, don't worry about it. You know what, cancel that, just add a little Rohypnol. I'm sure one of you has it. Yeah! That's right buddy. Yup, that bar! That one! There you go, I knew you'd get there! It was a team effort. Totally, we'll see you in a minute." She said it all so fast and in such a sarcastically cheery tone that it seemed all the men understood was that the pretty girls were going to meet them. They grinned, pushing one another and jeering, stumbling toward the bar.

Chloe waited with Beca and Aubrey, all three grinning like mad until the men disappeared through the doors.

She smirked, hugging Beca tightly to her with one arm, "You know, for a moment there I was kind of worried, Beca."

Aubrey cleared her throat, smoothing her clothes and looking like she wanted desperately to get as far away from the bar as possible.

"Yeah well, you get used to drunk people when you work in music but uh, we should move. Like nowish." Beca sent them a dry tongue click and wink.

Not needing to be told twice, the three started quickly down the street, walking with purpose until they were blocks away from Jeff and his buddies.

"So that was fun." Beca snickered as their pace finally slowed and then they came to a stop outside of a bakery and sweet shop that seemed to have caught Beca's eye.

"I know, right?" Chloe moaned, "Oh my god, I've had the worst night!" And then feeling like she was giving into her more dramatic tendencies, she amended, "Okay, well maybe not the _worst_ but not a great one. Thanks for saving me from those guys." Neither of her companions responded, so she turned from the darkened window where she had been checking her makeup and found that they were both staring at her with strange expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?" She asked, instantly uncomfortable. Did she have something in her teeth? "Guys?"

Aubrey gave a start and her face cleared but Beca just continued to grin at her like she might have silently gone crazy.

"Guys?"

Aubrey's wide eyes flashed to Beca and back, seemingly speechless.

"Oh!" And she couldn't help her grin, "Is it the outfit?"

Their faces remained blank. She gasped, excited, " _Is it_?"

It was a moment longer before Beca spoke. "It's uh," was all she said.

"What, you don't like it?" She asked, teasingly spinning.

Aubrey gave a cough that was riddled with awkwardness.

"Um," Beca's face twisted, as though thinking was hard, "I think more than anything it's just...surprising?"

Chloe glanced down at her tiny black gothic dress, knowing the choker and the black makeup made her look more like an Anne Rice character than herself but that was _part_ of it. She always dressed up a bit more for the nighttime crowds, especially when she was doing a Haunted History tour. People wanted something a little spookier at night and gothic-sexy-chic was definitely a big tip earner. She laughed, tickled that they both were back to staring with open mouths. "So then, you guys like it?"

Neither seemed to have an answer for her. As a matter of fact, neither appeared to have anything to say at all.

Chloe kind of loved it, loved throwing them off of their game like this. She loved to keep people guessing, loved to see their honest responses to her. She loved the honesty of a surprise response. She also loved the fact that they were staring at her so openly.

Sometimes she forgot how she looked, honestly. She forgot that her hair, her trim body, her eyes, that all of those things were unusual. She didn't care about it much, that was the thing. She liked being pretty and she liked people thinking she was pretty, but she forgot that if she threw on something different like this then people noticed. She had also forgotten that these women didn't really know her, they didn't know about her outfits and her love of dress up.

Flattered that her friends had been rendered speechless and feeling a bit emboldened she reached for each of them, looping her arms with theirs and pulling them forward. "Come on, you two. Let's go back to my place so I can change."

Beca let out a squawk as Chloe started to pull, stumbling so that she fell into her a little, whereas Aubrey, as tight as a board, moved with her efficiently but robotically.

She wasn't surprised to feel that both women were equally stiff in her arms, walking like they were not sure how they had gotten so close to her. It was a fitting response for both. Actually, smiling to herself she realized that, maybe she even kind of liked it.

Not at all deterred by their discomfort, she kept walking and as she did, she started to talk. As she spoke, she felt them begin to relax and she liked that too.

"You see that building?" She pointed up toward the roof of the red-bricked building they were approaching. The fun of a good story clicked in. It wasn't the story itself that made her happy since it was horrible, but instead, it was the chance to share it that she loved. Letting her more dramatic side take over, she stopped, theatrically staring up at the roof for a moment and gave a sigh. "Right up there on that roof is where my favorite story took place." She had already told this story once that night but she was happy to tell it again. She waited, hoping that one of them would take the bait. She glanced at Beca out of the corner of her eye, sure it would be her. She was the one who had been completely enraptured by the story the day they had met. It had been amazing to watch.

"What happened?" Aubrey finally asked, studying the roof with frustrated eyes as though it bothered her that she couldn't figure it out herself.

Chloe had to fight a grin away. She had been wrong and she _loved_ that. "Well. That is where Julie, the octoroon mistress died. Do you guys know what octoroon means?"

"Hmm it's mixed race, right?" Beca asked, shifting a little this way and that. Chloe could tell she was trying to free her arm but she just nodded and pretended she hadn't noticed.

"Basically. Way back when these things mattered, it meant that you were a quarter mixed, usually either African or Aboriginal and were often also called 'Creoles of Color'. Anyway, at this time octoroon women were pretty common in the city and were known for being mistresses to the highest elite Creole men. So much so that they used to throw balls every year in which men could come and pick out the woman who would be his mistress."

"Oh, that's super cute." Beca scoffed.

"Yeah. New Orleans has always had some interesting customs, then and now. _So_ , one year there was a woman at one of these balls named Julie, an octoroon woman who was renowned for her beauty. It's said that she met a wonderful Creole man and became his mistress pretty much right away. Not long after Julie realized that she was deeply, _passionately_ in love with him. Unfortunately for her, the man didn't seem to feel the same way. To him, Julie was a mistress, a lover to keep in secret. This was a great torment to her because she wanted desperately to marry him, however, at this time a union between an octoroon woman and a Creole man of great wealth was deeply frowned upon. Still, she begged her love for something she could do to change his mind. She did it so much and so often that she eventually began to annoy him. One night while he was having a party with a few friends he decided to tease Julie a little bit." She gave them a grim smile as the practiced words flowed from her tongue. "He told Julie that if she was willing to go up to the roof, strip off her clothes and wait for him until the party was over then he would marry her. After all, it was early January and if she was willing to risk serious illness to marry him then surely he had to respect that. The men all laughed the request off knowing that no one would do anything like that and continued on with their party. Well, the party went well into the night, as a matter of fact, it was almost morning when the man decided it was time for bed."

"Oh god, she was on the roof, wasn't she?" Aubrey asked in an anxious voice.

She swallowed her excitement, her pleasure over their responses and continued without answering, "He was very drunk and so he got in and went to sleep. It wasn't until he woke that he realized Julie wasn't in bed like she was supposed to be. He looked everywhere, very confused before he remembered what he had said to her. He was sure that no one would have taken him seriously. It had been a joke. Still, panicked he ran up to the roof to look for her. When he got there he found Julie huddled in a corner of the roof, naked and frozen, still waiting for her lover to come and save her from the elements."

"Uh, wow." Beca frowned up at the roof.

"That's so _sad_ ," Aubrey whimpered. "She froze to death waiting for a man who didn't care about her at all."

"As it turned out, he really loved Julie. He fell into a deep depression after that, which didn't end until he leapt from the roof. To this day people every now and then look up and see a woman pacing the length of the roof, waiting for her lover to come for her and from inside people have reported hearing the sounds of a man wailing and crying. The building is actually one of the best places to go for Tarot and psychic readings because of it. This shop, 'Bottom of the Cup' is fantastic. They say that Julie is overall pretty playful. She sometimes likes to interfere with a reading or move things around. They don't seem to mind her, though."

Aubrey gave a small sniff.

" _Why_ is that your favorite?" Beca asked. "I mean, not that the fact that it is worries me a little bit or anything. But like, yeah, just a little bit."

"It's just so tragic, so beautiful. We all would be lucky to find someone who loves us like Julie loved her lover."

Beca looked at her for a long time, her look slightly doubtful but Chloe just smiled back at her. Finally, Beca glanced at Aubrey, gave a little head shake and chuckled, "Hoookay, come on, crazy."

* * *

"I brought provisions," Aubrey announced, rummaging through her very large purse as Chloe threw herself onto her bed in her studio. She groaned, enjoying its softness and comfort. She needed pajamas and she needed a very large glass of wine.

"Like?" Beca asked, pulling around one of the wooden chairs so she could sit in it backward and face both of them.

"Well," Aubrey said, eyeing the other women, "I brought licorice," she pulled the box from her bag and set it primly on the table, "and a bottle of wine."

"Really?" Chloe sat up, pleased. "That's amazing, you just read my mind!"

"This is what you're supposed to enjoy post a bad date, right? I mean, I don't know, is that stupid? It's probably stupid, but,"

"No! Oh my god, you're amazing!" Chloe wailed, jumping up to throw her arms around Aubrey, who let out a small squeak, her arms hanging at her sides. "Thank you!"

"I'm glad that you like it. I wasn't sure." Aubrey's eyebrows pulled together, and Chloe watched as she carefully straightened the box and the bottle of wine so they were lined up perfectly with the design of the placemat that they were sitting on.

"Well, what do _you_ eat post bad date?" She asked, grabbing a few wine glasses from her shelves.

Aubrey ran her hand over her tightly pulled back hair, "Oh." Impressively the already tense and awkward woman grew more tense and awkward. "I don't go on many dates but,"

"Why not?" Chloe was busy trying to wrench open the bottle and so missed Aubrey's thinning lips.

"I'm not sure. I just don't. I don't create a lot of time for it." She paused, "But I suppose when I do I tend to pick up Greek."

"Greek?"

"Greek food and, perhaps," Aubrey's cheeks went pink, "a movie I enjoy."

"That sounds perfect!" Chloe grunted as she gave the cork another yank. "What movies do you watch, Aubrey?" She was intrigued to know what Aubrey would watch when her heart had just been broken. She, Chloe, was partial to trash TV or movies about the opposite sex than what had dumped her. It was like her escape; a woman breaks up with her then she watches Justin Timberlake, Taye Diggs or Dwayne Johnson movies; if a man then she reveled in the woman on woman glory of 'D.E.B.S', 'Fried Green Tomatoes' or 'Better Than Chocolate'.

Aubrey shifted and Chloe had to wonder what about the question made her so uncomfortable, "Well. I tend to enjoy movies such as 'You've Got Mail' or perhaps 'Must Love Dogs'."

Chloe's grin spread slowly and wide, picturing Aubrey in her pajamas surrounded by Greek food and watching a romantic comedy. She would give anything to see Aubrey that way. She would give anything to _be_ part of that ritual with her.

"Yeah," Beca said, taking the bottle from Chloe and popping the cork free. "I can't do the food thing post date. My stomach is always, I dunno, but I tend to like the bottle a little more."

Chloe gave her a smile of thanks and poured them each a healthy sized glass. "I think sweets are perfect. Like, you know those Valentine's Day boxes of chocolates? I love those when it's really bad, but that is usually break up kind of bad."

"Wait, wait, wait," Beca cried, her hands going out to stop all foot traffic, "we're so not about to do that thing, are we? Like that Sex & the City thing, where we sit around and bitch about boys over our drinks?"

Chloe pretended to think about it for a moment before she announced with relish, "Yup! I think we are."

Beca groaned, "Okay, but I hope you both know that I'm so bad at girl talk."

"What?" Chloe chided, "You can't tell us which celebrity's ass you like the most?"

Beca made a face, "Is that what girl talk is supposed to be?"

"I think we are girls and we are going to talk so," she made a face and pulled her hair out of its gothic netting. "Do you guys mind if I hop into the shower really quickly? I feel like I want to get those guys off of me."

Both shrugged and so, trying to be as quick as possible she got in.

She thought of her guests as she quickly bathed. She loved that it was fate that brought them together. It had been total and complete kismet that they had both been on her tour at the same time, at least it seemed that way if you thought about their last meeting. Chloe was willing to bet though that it was going to be just as amazing this time and she couldn't wait to see it and be a part of it.

She got out feeling clean and refreshed again, pulled on her pajamas and hung her towel. "You guys hot?" She asked as she stepped from the bathroom, and then because she couldn't help the joke, she gave her eyebrows a teasing waggle.

The difference in their reactions was priceless. Aubrey turned puce while Beca just laughed and called her a shameless flirt.

"It is," Beca gasped, pretending to pull at her collar, "a bit warm."

Chloe nodded and went to the windows, opening them as wide as she could before sinking onto her bed next to Beca. "Sorry, I'm never hot. I get cold really easily but I'm from Texas. We like it spicy out." She grinned, winking at Beca over her shoulder.

"Spicy?"

"Yup." She nodded, unashamed.

"How have you been dealing with the humidity, Beca? There isn't a lot of it where you come from, right?" Aubrey asked, carefully crossing one leg over the other in the stiff wooden chair.

"I mean, I guess there's some but it's more like damp and wet than humid. There isn't a lot of heat to back it up. It's not...yeah, it's not my favorite." She said, pulling her shirt away from her skin.

Chloe reached for the glass of wine she had poured herself before her shower, thanking Aubrey when she handed it to her. "Do you want to come join us? I know those chairs aren't totally comfy or anything, I mean, obvs, they're cheap wooden ones. Come on, there's room, look." She pushed aside her pillows, wondering if there was _any_ way that Aubrey would come and join them.

But while Aubrey's back straightened impossibly further, she just shook her head.

"You don't look too comfortable. Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." She sipped from her glass, eyeing the small space that Chloe had made.

"Probably smart, Aubrey," Beca nodded. "We wouldn't want you to get wrinkled."

Aubrey's nostrils flared but otherwise, she just ignored them, making both Beca and Chloe laugh.

"Well," Aubrey cleared her throat, her neck long as she pressed her lips into a thin line, "if you two are done making fun of me." She tossed the box of licorice at Beca, which made her squawk and flail her arms in the air. "What did he do?"

Beca pulled a whip out and then tossed the box back at Aubrey, glaring at her when Aubrey simply caught it. She turned toward Chloe with the box and Chloe let out a yelp, ducking before the box could be pegged at her. When it didn't come she glanced up and started to laugh when Aubrey was simply holding it out to her with her eyebrows high.

"Oh!"

" _You_ ," Aubrey said, giving Beca a glare, "are not a bratty little midget."

"Midget?" Beca cried, sitting up with indignation on her face.

"You're like four feet shorter than me, Beca." She said, her voice serious enough that Chloe wasn't entirely sure that Aubrey was joking.

"But midget? Really?"

Aubrey's lips pursed, giving them that sanctimonious little head tilt, "I stand by my word choice."

Chloe let out a happy little yip. _Aubrey was teasing Beca!_ She was _teasing_ her! And Beca was teasing back! For some reason, the show made her far happier than she could have imagined. Her teeth snared her lip and she watched them, absolutely pulsating with pride.

"You dick! Take it back!"

"I don't know Beca," Chloe sighed, nibbling on the end of the candy. "I think she might be right."

"Wha? Oh, shut up!" Beca cried, shoving her.

It took a few minutes for their laughter to die down before Aubrey asked her question again.

"Hmm? Oh, the date?" She made a face, "He was just one of those guys who thought demeaning me was charming and that I would eat it up."

"Oh no, I hate those." Aubrey shook her head, "I had one who liked to make sure to criticize me every time he complimented me. I'm not sure why the ding-dong thought that was the best way to romance me."

"Like how?" Beca asked, settling back against the wall.

"Well, I think the one I remember best was 'that dress looks beautiful on you, Aubrey, too bad your hands are so big.'"

"What?" Chloe cried. Aubrey did _not_ have big hands!

Beca frowned, her look thoughtful. "Maybe it was just the way things were in 1832 back when someone last 'romanced' someone else."

Aubrey's face stayed blank for a moment, looking at Beca like she didn't understand until she gave a little cough.

"Hey!" Chloe cried, teasingly smacking Beca with a pillow, "Be nice to Aubrey. She brought me wine. She wins the friend award for tonight."

"This is a contest now? What? That's shitty, I want a recount."

They sent banter back and forth for a bit, laughing as no one really took offense.

"So. What did the asshole do?" Beca asked around her whip.

"Yes," Aubrey scoot forward a bit in her chair. "Come on, tell us all about it and don't skip any of the gory details."

* * *

Don't forget! Head over to AO3 and review there if you want a response/have questions!  
See you next week!


	6. Chapter 6

The next Friday night, Chloe thought with a bit of amusement, that she might be a little bit happy that this date was going so poorly.

She laughed again as the woman tried to spin her across the dance floor. The club was a small outdoor bar, without much space so instead of spinning her, she gave a twist, nearly tripped and stomped down on her foot.

Chloe let out a yelp, hissing through her teeth but her date, Janine, didn't seem to notice. Instead, she just twisted them both again. She thought that maybe Janine was trying to do something along the lines of a Salsa to the quick jazz beat, but she wasn't sure. The contrasting rhythms were making Chloe a little dizzy.

Generally, Chloe hated bad dates. They were just so unfortunate, like a missed connection or a lost opportunity but this time she thought the bad date might bring on a different type of opportunity, and she was pleased.

Janine gave a harsh twirl, pulling Chloe with her and she felt something in her shoulder stretch and pull.

"Oh god, ow!"

"What's wrong?" Janine asked, giving her a smug little grin that told Chloe she thought the date was going really well.

Leaning a little too heavily on Janine as her shoulder and back spasmed, she gave her a small smile. "Nothing, _ow_ , I think I just pulled a muscle. Ahh! Um, do you think we could sit down for a minute? I could use a drink."

"Sure."

She hobbled over to the table where they had been sitting before, trying to stretch and pop as she went. Instead, the muscle seized and she let out a groan.

"My date is such a bad dancer that I pulled a muscle in my back." Chloe sent it out to the group text. She winced as her shoulder twinged and sent a line of unhappy faced emoji's.

"Wow, that's talent," Beca responded almost immediately. "How does that even happen?"

"I don't know, but it hurts!" She typed back quickly as she heard Janine's flats approaching from behind her.

"Here you go! Gin and tonic."

Chloe took the drink with a plastic smile. She thanked her, not wanting to be rude, but not sure why she had brought her a gin and tonic when she had been drinking vodka and branch all night.

"You know, you're a really great dancer." Janice smiled at her, running her own hand through her short hair.

"Oh," Chloe shifted a little, "thank you! That's so sweet of you." It was her tour response and that made her cringe. She had to get out of this date. There was no hope for it!

"Yeah, it's always nice to find a girl that can move with me, you know? Some women are just so stiff."

"Yeah," she gave a little nod and tried not to wince as her back continued its protest.

"You know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah, totes." In her pocket, she felt her phone vibrate a few more times, and while she wanted desperately to answer it, she knew that would be so rude. She tried to ignore it but the more it went off the greater the pull was. "Will you excuse me? I'm going to run to the ladies room."

"Sure, yeah, sure. When you get back do you want to get back out there?"

Her yanked muscle gave a twinge of protest but she smiled in a way that she hoped was convincing and nodded.

When she opened her phone she could see a small conversation happening:

8:43 - Beca:  
"Like, did he spin you into a wall or something?"

8:43 - Aubrey:  
"Chloe, are you okay?"

8:44 - Aubrey:  
"I'm a little worried about you."

8:45 - Beca:  
"Do you want us to come in and save you?"

8:45 - Beca:  
"We could totally just act like we are your friends who happened to be in the same place that you are and then we perform a stealth ninja kidnapping."

8:46 - Aubrey:  
"I could always pretend to be having an emotional problem."

8:46 - Beca:  
"I could really have one."

8:47 - Aubrey:  
"Do you think we should worry that we haven't heard from her?"

8:48 - Beca:  
"I mean maybe? I don't know, she IS on a date right now."

8:50 - Aubrey:  
"I suppose you're right."

Chloe grinned reading the exchange, feeling all at once flattered. First things first though she had to respond with, "You guys ARE my friends! Don't be silly!"

"Thank you, Chloe." Aubrey texted and then just as quickly added, "Would you like us to come meet you?"

She chewed her lip for a moment, leaning against the wall just outside of the bathroom and double-checked that her date couldn't see her.

This wasn't fair to Janine. She should give her more of a chance, but they had been out for hours and all she could think about was how much she wanted to spend time with her friends. _Of course_ she wanted them to come and save her. Their post tour hang out the week before had been every bit as awesome, though not as late, as the last one as she loved it. A good hang out with friends was addicting, making her crave it like she sometimes craved the perfect Étouffée from that place down in the Bywater.

Suddenly excited she typed back fast, "Yes please!" She hadn't planned on asking them to come but the moment the date had started to go sour, she had started to want it and now, it seemed like the only logical conclusion to her evening. She filled them in on where she was and then she, all at once happier, returned to her table.

She wasn't exactly sure when Beca and Aubrey showed up. All she knew was that when she and Janine stepped through the front gate of the bar thirty minutes later they were there, Aubrey holding a plastic cup of wine and Beca a beer, standing just outside and talking.

"Sucks that you need to call it a night early." Janine stopped them a few feet from her friends, unaware that they had an audience. "There's this club down the way that has great house music."

"I know," she frowned, "I'm sorry."

"Next time. I have your number."

"Yes," Chloe gave a guilty nod, her lips twisting as she thought about how to say this. It was never easy and she hated having to turn anyone down. It was kinder to be direct though, she knew that. "Look, Janine," but before she could say much else Janine swooped in and placed a soft… _bland_ kiss on Chloe's lips.

A little shocked, Chloe just stared at the woman as she grinned at her.

"I'll call you."

Chloe didn't respond. She had _not_ seen that coming. Had Janine really thought this was a kiss worthy date? Had she just missed that it hadn't gone well? Her frown grew into a grimace. She hated sneak attack kisses. Okay _no_ , she _loved_ sneak attack kisses. There was nothing better then suddenly and thoroughly being swept off your feet. As a matter of fact, that was one of her favorite things. She was looking for someone who was willing to grab her out of nowhere and, despite wherever they were, plant a mind-melting kiss on her. The problem was that the kiss needed to do exactly that. Otherwise, it was just uncomfortable. And her mind was super _not_ melting right now which was a little sad.

Chloe watched Janine walk over to her motorcycle, pull on the helmet and give her a nod. She had wanted so badly to go for a ride on that earlier tonight. Too bad. There was a loud bray of the motor and Janine was gone.

Well. She would just have to turn Janine down when she called.

A little shaken she started over to her friends, not seeing their dumbstruck looks.

"I'm not sure what just happened to me." She ran her fingers over her temples, rubbing them in soft circles. "She was not my one." She looked up and finally noticed the way they both were looking at her. " _What_?"

" _That_ was your date?" Aubrey spluttered.

"Dude, are you gay?" Beca asked at the same time, a lopsided grin spreading slowly across her face.

"Oh!"

"I mean, no big deal if you are. Just, I dunno, that would surprise me."

Chloe had never been one to label herself. In truth, she had never really been asked to. Something about her seemed to usually tell people in advance that she wasn't the kind that embraced labels. "No, I'm not _gay_. My last date was with a guy, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

She watched Beca's face, fascinated by her response, by what she was seeing there. She looked all at once amused and - something. Chloe's eyebrow went up, her flirty side that she couldn't always control waking before she thought about it. "Wait, why would it surprise you?" She asked, lightly pulling on a strand of Beca's hair.

"Actually, on second thought." Beca's eyes narrowed a little as she studied her, "Maybe it wouldn't."

Chloe's mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, "Okay I want to know what's happening in your head right now, missy."

"Nothing!" Beca buried her hands in her pockets. "Just curious."

"No, I wouldn't say I'm _gay_ ... Are you?" She asked, still seeing that twinkle in Beca's eye.

"Um, no. I mean, I dunno, not really. I mean, yeah I date mostly women but I've been with a few guys too. Well, one guy, mainly."

She saw Aubrey's head whip around to stare at Beca.

"Oh my god, Aubrey, are you okay?" She reached out, unsure of what exactly she was trying to do. Was Aubrey about to fall over? Was she...was she _homophobic_? Aubrey's eyes were blown fiercely wide, her nostrils flared about as much as her lips were pursed.

"What? Of course!" Aubrey's face suddenly dropped, wiping clean like an Etch A Sketch, turning neutrally uninterested.

"Aubrey…" Chloe started in a soft voice. Her people sensors were going off; still a bit worried and hoping to be as sensitive as possible. She wasn't sure what had just happened but she was sure it needed careful handling, "Are _you_ ...gay?" In truth, she hadn't noticed a single thing that would make her think Aubrey was but something had just happened, Chloe had seen it.

"No!" Aubrey's back straightened, her cheeks sinking as her jaw jutted first from one side and then to the other. "I consider myself to be straight."

She felt Beca glance at her with high eyebrows and Chloe returned the look.

"Ish." Aubrey finally added, flushing a little.

Beca gave a nod, her eyes a little too wide as she stared at Aubrey. "Okay, well-"

Aubrey suddenly rambled on, "I suppose I've had my summer camp experiences and there was – _college_ , but I come from a good Christian _military_ family...so I just don't date much."

"Okay." Chloe nodded a little.

She wasn't sure what she and Beca's faces looked like, but whatever it had been Aubrey let out a scoff when she saw it and added, "Please, I'm bi-curious at best."

A little worried and completely amused, she sent a side-glance to Beca, pleased to see that Beca seemed to have enjoyed Aubrey's rant and that small break in her usual reserve just as much as she had.

"Okay." She said again, watching the way that Aubrey's eyes shifted and understanding at once that Aubrey wasn't being fully truthful and she knew it. "Okay!" She nodded again, her lips twisting as she once against wrapped her arm around Aubrey's and then Beca's, "Anyway! Now that we got that settled." Beca gave a snort. "What do you want to do tonight?"

They didn't do much. None of them really wanted to go back to Chloe's studio, so they instead headed to the levee, walking up and down the water.

* * *

"Oh my god, Beca!" Chloe moaned, her head hanging forward as Beca none too gently worked on the spot in her shoulder from her perch on the back of the bench's rest.

An hour later they had settled on a bench under a streetlamp where Beca had decided that she was going to try and help the dull pain from Janine.

"I don't know what she did but you're, like, _really_ messed up back here."

"What _did_ she do?" Aubrey asked, once again sitting primly across the bench and as far from them as she could. Chloe didn't take offense, Beca was weird when Chloe let herself be herself, which meant sat far too close and touched too much. Aubrey, however, did her best to keep a two feet wall between them at all times.

"I'm not sure. She kind of," she twisted to show them and then moaned.

"Yeeeeah, good job! I'm thinking maybe that's not the best idea right now," Beca smirked.

"Shut up, it hurts!" She wailed. "You can't make fun of me when I'm hurt."

"Well stop freaking moving around!"

The three fell silent, Aubrey watching the water while Chloe just basked in the feeling of Beca's fingers. It was nice. As a matter of fact, it was so nice that it took Chloe a moment to realize she was humming. She hadn't consciously decided to do it but it sometimes just happened when she was happy, like a purr of a cat. And she was happy sitting here with them, these magical strangers who had just come into her life and were quickly making it better. It was funny how that could happen.

She had a lot of friends. Chloe had always been a pretty social person but these two...there was something different about them.

Beca's fingers paused as across the bench they heard Aubrey pick up the humming as well, so softly and quietly that Chloe smiled to herself, sure that Aubrey hadn't meant to let them hear it. Fingers still frozen on her shoulders, Beca carefully leaned forward, trying to stealthily catch her eye over her shoulder. Chloe, grinning from ear to ear, shared an excited smile and continued her humming like she hadn't noticed. Aubrey seemed lost in her thoughts and Chloe just watched her from the corner of her eye. Soon she forgot to be secretive about it, her eyes drawn to Aubrey, a little transfixed just then.

She was sitting with her leg crossed over the other, her arms placed lightly on her thighs, her face turned to watch the water. The lights from the city behind her were caught in her hair and framing her face, which had the softest smile on it that Chloe had ever seen there. She looked so content at that moment, despite her overly tight back. She looked pleased with something that was happening in her mind, peaceful. She looked…beautiful.

She felt Beca's fingers squeeze a little on her shoulder and soundlessly she moved her hand to cover Beca's, communicating silently that yes, Chloe was seeing what Beca was seeing. Intrigued, she wondered if, in this peaceful state, she could be pushed a little more from her shell.

A little too excited, Chloe sighed when Beca's fingers began to work on her again and she softly picked up the song, singing, "All you need is love. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need."

A thrill like an electric shock went through her when seemingly without thought Aubrey picked up with, "Love, love, love."

And then Chloe couldn't take it anymore. She let out a happy squeal and threw herself across the bench to hug Aubrey tightly, who let out a rather undignified yelp. "You're singing with me!" She announced, as though perhaps Aubrey didn't realize that was what she had done.

"I'll have you know," Aubrey finally said when Chloe let go of her, "that I love to sing."

Chloe gaped.

"Woman of mystery," Beca said with a grin.

"I love it." Chloe breathed and leaned back against Beca's shins again.

It turned out that while, surprise surprise, Aubrey loved to sing, Beca did not.

"I'm not a singer, dude, why is it weird that I would not want to sing outside in front of everyone?" She had finally cried when Chloe continued to tease her.

"Oh come on, Beca! Even Aubrey will sing with me!" She smirked at Aubrey, letting her know she was only joking but Aubrey just nodded.

"It's true, Beca."

Chloe and Aubrey enjoyed lightly harmonizing to random songs for the rest of the walk and though Beca refused, Chloe had seen the way that Beca had watched them from the corner of her eye as though working hard not to be caught.

Finally, with the hour growing late, they forced themselves to turn back. This time they talked about work, of Beca's worry about her job and about Chloe's dissertation. Aubrey seemed fascinated by the topic and somehow, she wasn't surprised when, just before they all parted ways that night, she had agreed to send Aubrey a copy to read.

The next Friday Chloe texted the other two the moment she saw her date for the evening in his plaid sweater vest and once again they met post date...as well as the next Friday. Both evenings were wonderful, full of teasing about Chloe's provocative tour wear, Beca and her general refusal to sing, and trying piece by piece to dig some more under Aubrey's shell.

The Friday after had taken them from July to August and for the first time since they had met, Chloe didn't have a date.

* * *

"So," Stacie gave her a suggestive eyebrow waggle as she continued to attack her fingernails with the file. "What are you up to tonight?"

They had been in these exact positions for the last two hours, Stacie behind her desk in the Basin Street lobby and Chloe on the other side, leaning against it heavily and bored out of her mind. The day had been so slow. There had been plenty of patrons but other than a few questions for Stacie and a warm greeting to each person who wandered in, they had done nothing.

"Stace," Chloe started, skeptically watching the files progress. "You've been filing for two hours. You're down to the nub."

Stacie's grin only grew, "I'm going out to a lesbian bar tonight."

Chloe laughed despite herself, shaking her head a little.

"So. What are _you_ doing?"

"Actually," She picked up a stack of business cards on the counter beside her, shuffling them like a deck of playing cards. "I don't have any plans yet. I'm not sure." She said it in her best casual voice and she was pleased when it did indeed sound cavalier.

"You're not going out with the awkward duo?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't call them that!"

Stacie, her closest work friend had coined the phrase the week before, amazed that two people so completely different were who Chloe had been spending so much time with.

"They aren't awkward! Not at all. You just don't know them. And I'm not sure. We don't usually plan things in advance."

"Well. Come out with me then."

"Oh," she chewed her bottom lip, cornered.

"Come on! You've been promising me for so long. Come have a drink with me." Stacie paused her filing to pout and flutter her eyelashes. "Pretty please. With a cherry on top." Her talent for making everything sound surprisingly sensual and just a touch inappropriate always managed to impress Chloe.

"Um," she picked up the business cards that she had just put down, ran them through her fingers before straightening them and putting them away again. "I don't know, Stacie. I was kind of planning on,"

"Oh my god, you're totally gonna keep yourself free in case they text you, aren't you? Ugh," Stacie let out a good-natured noise of disgust, "Lame."

"We just never make plans until the last minute!" She knew she was blushing a little.

She actually had no idea if they were planning on getting together or not but they had every Friday for weeks now and those evenings were the highlight of her week. She didn't want to miss it, so if she was keeping herself free then…who could blame her?

"How is it that you don't have a date?" Stacie asked, "That's not like you."

"I don't know." Chloe admitted, giving an overly casual shrug, "I'm just starting to feel a little frustrated with it. I keep seeming to go out with the same types of people. Where are all the amazing people in this city? Are they hiding from me?" She was whining a little bit but she was frustrated!

"Well. You know they say that friends turned lovers are always the best."

Chloe just laughed at Stacie, affectionately shaking her head at her and not taking her advances seriously.

"Oh come on! I'm _so_ good in bed!"

"Uh huh, and what happens the next day after I've satisfied your oh-so-romantic _booty call_?"

Stacie smirked, "We do it again."

"Oh!" Chloe let out a yelp, her hand shooting for her phone as she heard the little chime of the group text. The sound had been a slow trickle throughout her week, the three not quite in constant contact but seeming to reach out more and more. Chloe loved it, she loved talking to them this much and she wanted more. She knew she could be a little overly enthusiastic at times when she loved something, that had always been true, so she had been holding herself back…barely…from texting them… _constantly_ but she couldn't wait until they were in contact more. As a matter of fact, if it didn't start soon then she was going to be the one to do it.

"So," Beca's text read, "who is the lucky guy/girl this week?"

Chloe smiled to herself, turning a little so that she had some privacy from Stacie's eyes as she typed back, "Actually, I don't have a date tonight! :'-( "

"What?" Beca's response was instant, as was her next text, "How are you surviving? Are you sick? What happened? Were you body snatched? I'm so disappointed in you, Chloe!"

She laughed to herself, her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't disturb the patrons. "I know! I've let the team down!"

"Actually, I have a date tonight."

Chloe's jaw dropped when she saw Aubrey's text and, shocked, she scrambled to type back, "Deets! Deets!"

"His name is Dolton. I met him at Rouses while I was grocery shopping. He was very charming."

"Where is he taking you?"

"Commander's Palace."

"Very nice!" Beca chimed in.

"Yes, I'm feeling very enthusiastic about this evening."

"So we shouldn't be on standby?:-( :-( :-( " Chloe sent. "I want to hear about it!"

"I'm not sure."

"Chloe, I'm gonna be bored tonight. Let's do dinner. Aubrey, you can join us after if you want to." Beca sent.

"Yes, please!" Chloe sent back, putting as many exclamation points on as she could. "Aubrey, you really should. I hope you do!"

"Okay, could your smile be any bigger?" Stacie scoffed, "Who just asked you out?"

"What?" Chloe's head whipped up. "No one!"

"Yeah right! That smile says 'I totally just got a hot date'! Spill!"

"I didn't! I'm just going to meet up with Beca later." She smirked, spinning a little in place just to let out some of her happy energy.

"And that's not a hot date?"

"Not in the way you're thinking anyway."

"Uh huh."

But Chloe didn't hear Stacie's response, already completely distracted by her texting conversation.

The rest of the day had been so slow after that. Well, it had already been slow but once she had solid dinner plans with Beca and a hopeful chance that Aubrey might show up later, the day had become absolutely unbearable.

Stacie had gone from amused to slightly annoyed when her work buddy had become distracted, constantly chattering about her evening and Chloe couldn't even blame her. She was just so excited.

She moved through the quarter early that evening, all but skipping around the tourists. Beca had said she would come over at eight and that gave Chloe just enough time to pick up and get ready.

Her buzzer rang at 7:48, just as Chloe was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. "Hold on a second, Beca!" She called into her intercom, annoyed as ever that the unlocking button didn't actually unlock the downstairs door.

Then again, she had to remind herself, it wasn't as though she had ever had a problem with a drunken idiot actually getting through it and up to her door. The malfunction actually helped keep her safe so perhaps she shouldn't complain.

She double checked her face in the mirror, pleased by the pastel touches.

She skipped down the steps, her skirt swishing around her knees and grinned through the metal at Beca before unlocking it. "You look really cute!" She grinned at Beca as she stepped into the tight space of the hall.

"Um, thanks?" Beca frowned but Chloe just smiled at her and gave a nodding your welcome.

She really did. She was in her usual tee shirt and jeans but her hair had been curled around the ends ever so slightly, and there was something about her eye makeup that seemed to make the deep blue irises pop. She liked the way that Beca's tattoos stood out against the white of her shirt. It was kind of sexy actually, just like the way that her grin was a little crooked. She was impressed; both her new friends were totally gorgeous.

"Come on." She grabbed Beca's hand, linking their fingers and pulling her up.

"What are you in the mood for?" she asked as Beca settled onto the chaise.

"Down here? Do we have any other choice but fish?"

"Sure. What were you thinking?"

"Pizza?"

"We can do pizza. Can we get anchovies?"

Beca let out a melodramatic groan and fell back onto the cushion, something that was supposed to make Chloe laugh and did.

They spent a little while then going over what they wanted on it before Chloe placed the order and sat with a thump by her. "So, how was your week? How's the music?"

"Dude," Beca sighed, leaning back against the wall behind her. "I don't even know."

"What's wrong?" Chloe shifted a little so she could lean against the back of the chaise, tossing her legs over Beca's lap without much thought, at least not until she saw Beca looking down at her legs like she was suddenly trapped under an inescapable log.

Beca's face pulled into a scowl when she shifted a few times but Chloe didn't release her. "'Kay. Um. Right." Chloe gave a chuckle and waited for Beca to continue. "Do you ever feel like you're producing something that is okay but just like _not_ the best? Like you know you could do better but you aren't sure how?"

"Oh my god, yes!" Chloe cried, leaning over so she could grasp Beca's arm and give it a little shake. "That is exactly how I feel about my dissertation."

"It's just," Beca squirmed, "this is not _me_ , you know. Like, I usually have a handle on this a little better. I'm _good_ at this. But apparently not – really."

"Why don't you bring some over and we can listen to it?"

"We?"

"Aubrey and me."

For a moment Beca grinned, seeming pleased and then her face fell. "I don't know. I'm not big on sharing. Maybe. One day. Maybe."

"Beca!" She gave her a soft poke. "You should totally let me hear your music."

"But _I_ don't even like it!"

"Well. Here. Listen to this." She got up, moving to her iHome and plugging her phone in. She clicked around for a minute before music flooded out of the small speakers. "Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They're amazing."

Beca listened for a moment, her face serious, "See, I just can't get that little flair, you know what I mean? Like, it's all okay but I can't get that-"

"NOLA Spice."

Beca sent her a side smirk.

"You just need some ginger to help rattle you up a little bit." Chloe grinned and then proceeded to grab her arm and shake her again, making Beca let out a series of awkward squawks. "Don't worry too much." She said when Beca had fought her off. "You'll get there. It's such a specific sound, you know? It takes a minute for that spice to really get good and hot."

"Yeah, I guess," Beca said through an eye roll, that made Chloe laugh. She loved that. Beca was the best to friend-flirt with, her amused and flustered responses were just as good as watching Aubrey's face go entirely blank and confused.

"I like this though." Beca gave a nod, her thumb beating out the rhythm on the cushion. Chloe hadn't noticed it before but she was sitting with both hands planted firmly on the cushion on either side of her, awkwardly avoiding letting them rest on her legs. It didn't bother her much. She was touchy like this without meaning to but she had learned a long time ago that people couldn't always respond in kind.

They sat together for a while, listening to the music, discussing the difference in each performance. When their pizza came, they sprawled across Chloe's floor, trading off playing their favorite music for one another.

"So how do you think Aubrey's date is going?"

"Um," Beca put down the crust she had been nibbling on, "probably very tensely."

Chloe chuckled, "She's so funny, right?"

"Oh no, she totally is." Beca agreed quickly. "Like funny strange though."

"Oh, totes."

"I kinda couldn't believe it when she started singing."

Chloe grinned, bubbling as she remembered it. She had loved it. She had felt so close to her - to both of them in that moment. "What do you think the guy is like?"

"For Aubrey? Probably a well to do Wall Street type."

"You think so?" Chloe asked, not sure exactly why she was frowning.

"Yeah, like some older, super tall, super built, super blonde guy like Daniel Craig."

"Really?" Chloe laughed, leaning back against the bed behind her to think. "She's so funny. I can't read her like at all."

"No, I know," Beca nodded quickly, "like I can't even totally tell if she wants to be here when we hang out."

"I think she does," Chloe said but she could hear the doubt in her own voice.

"I mean, she shows up?" Beca made a face as she said it and they both laughed.

"She likes us, right?"

Beca thought for a long minute, "Here's the thing. Or at least here's what I think the thing is. I think she does. I think she just really can't figure out how to let her hair down."

"I don't know, Beca, sometimes it feels like she's afraid to. Is that silly to say?"

"No, but yeah, totally. Like, she might, I dunno, implode if she does. That or she just hates us. Whatever. One or the other."

It was just after ten that night when both Chloe and Beca's phones simultaneously went off announcing that Aubrey was on her way and only five minutes later they went off again saying she was there.

"Chloe, I'm gonna go downstairs and let her in," Beca called from the living room while Chloe made them both another cool drink. "How do I make the door work?"

"It opens fine from this side." She called back.

She picked up the pizza box and the napkins that had somehow been scattered, listening to the clicking of high heels on the stairs.

"Hi, Chloe. How are you?"

Chloe turned, a smile already on her face and then stopped. "Wow, _Aubrey!_ " Chloe breathed. She looked amazing, her hair pulled back as always, her knee length pencil dress tight and shockingly flattering on her long, lean frame. "Uh," Chloe stammered, which made Aubrey frown. Chloe wasn't one who stammered very often. She blinked, a little dazed and trying to readjust; thankful to see that behind Aubrey, Beca was looking a little bewildered and unsteady too. She smiled to herself, kind of liking the way that Beca's cheeks were pink. How was she able to be so cute?

Suddenly she jumped, realizing that she was gaping at the two of them. "You look gorgeous, Aubrey!" She grinned and sent her a playful wink. "Your date was a lucky guy!"

Aubrey, for her part, seemed just as flustered as Beca was. She blinked a few times, her long eyelashes fluttering before she gave a small nod. "Thank you."

"You really do, um, err, look great, Aubrey," Beca added, walking unsteadily to the bed and sinking down onto it.

"So," Chloe finally said after a moment, breaking the silence. "How was it?" She took a seat on the chaise, giving it a pat. "Was he charming?"

Aubrey sank down beside her and Beca pulled up a chair, resting her feet beside Aubrey.

"Actually," Aubrey looked up at Chloe, caught her eye and the pink in her cheeks doubled, "he was." Aubrey slowly nodded, "Yes, it was...it was very nice. It wasn't a perfect night but it was very nice."

"What'd you do? How did you end up out here? I thought he was taking you to somewhere in the Garden district."

"He did," Aubrey compulsively smoothed her dress and Chloe wondered if Aubrey was nervous. Why would she be nervous? She seemed honestly uncomfortable. "But it turns out he likes a little bar down here and we went for drinks."

"Wow! Yeah, that's nice!"

Something strange was happening in Chloe and she didn't understand it. Her stomach wasn't feeling the best. Perhaps the pizza had been undercooked or something. She rubbed it and noticed that Beca had the same mildly uncomfortable look on her face too.

"He was a little young for me and a little," Aubrey's jaw flexed and tightened, " _amorous_ , especially in the automotive department..."

Chloe gasped, leaning in to give Aubrey a nudge, "Aubrey! Did you make out in the backseat of his car?"

For a moment Aubrey looked like she was choking on something and then she spluttered, "Of course not! I don't - on the first -" she took a long breath, calming herself, "no, but that wasn't for his lack of trying. However, in every other way he was the perfect gentleman."

Chloe glanced back at Beca again and saw that her look was still sour. "Well," she sat up, going to collect the drinks she had made for them, "I'm so glad that your date was awesome! You deserve it!" But she was distinctly prickly, her skin a bit itchy and she couldn't understand why. Aubrey _did_ deserve it. So why did she feel so openly jealous? Because all of her dates were bad recently? Because she felt like she could use a good date like a smoker could use a cigarette after a long work shift?

"Well." She cleared something large and uncomfortable from her throat and handed her a glass with a wink. "Dolton is a very lucky man."

* * *

Over the next week something started to change between the three of them. The morning after Aubrey's date, Chloe woke to a very simple text message, and yet it changed everything.

Beca: "I've already had two cups of coffee this morning. We gotta stop staying out so late. I'm too old for it and having to admit that pains me."

Chloe had hurried to reply, teasing Beca in her old lady-ness.

It was the first silly and unimportant text they had sent and once the gate was open, it seemed that it couldn't be shut again. Casual thoughts were sent by each a few times a day; nothing significant as much as things like:

Beca: "Are you guys watching Supergirl? Lexie Grey just came out as a lesbian and I'm pretty sure my life is complete. I think we need to start having viewing parties."

Aubrey: "The strange thing about this city is that no matter how many times I drive past the Superdome I am always surprised by its size and by the extreme cost the city must expend to keep it lit like they do. Surely there are areas of the city that could use that money."

Chloe: "I have decided that as of now I will no longer be doing Anne Rice tours. I can't stop being frustrated when some Anne Rice enthusiast calls me 'Claudia'. I don't understand it! She was a child and she was blonde!"

Soon their texts began to include anything a trio of friends would send to one another; complaints about their jobs, teasing jokes, and the likes. Chloe loved it. She loved sending something silly and innocently flirty and seeing their varied responses, she loved knowing that she could text them at any time and they would be there, ready to respond.

The next Friday came along and once again, despite Stacie begging for her company, Chloe found herself free...and her spirits quickly falling.

She had waited all afternoon, jumping whenever she felt her phone vibrate or heard any type of chime whether it was like her chosen text noise or not.

The early evening came and went and still she had heard nothing from them.

Did they have dates? Was that why?

A little disheartened she got off of work and went home with no real plans. She made herself dinner and then wandered around her small apartment, unsure of how to spend her evening and wanting to check in more and more.

She just didn't want to seem silly.

Finally as she was just settling into a TV show around eight, her phone gave a small 'chiing'.

Chloe dived across the bed for her phone, already grinning.

"Well ladies, it's Friday night. Who has the date? Chloe? Beca?"

Grinning Chloe quickly typed back to Aubrey, "You're not going out with Dolton?"

"Not this evening."

"Well, clearly I'm always the lame one here. I think I need to start dating just to keep up with you guys. Anyway, whatever, I'm dateless. So what's the plan? Who is the date this week, Chloe?"

Chloe chewed her lip, half between laughter at Beca's response and nerves admitting, "Not me! Don't have one!"

The line was silent for a few moments before Beca responded with, "What? This is two weeks in a row, Chloe! I'm starting to lose faith in humanity. If YOU can't get a date then none of us can!"

"I'm sure it's not about 'can't'," Aubrey responded, "Right, Chloe? Anyone would be very lucky to get either one of you."

"Awe, thanks, Aubrey! And yeah, I could have but I just didn't want to."

"So...none of us have dates tonight?" Beca asked and even Chloe could feel her hesitation. This had been the pattern for weeks now.

The line went silent and Chloe wondered if they, like her, were trying to decide what that meant for their night. She felt her lips twist as she stared at the screen, waiting and feeling strangely awkward, willing them to respond. Finally, after ten minutes had passed of uncomfortable silence, Chloe sent them a text, "Do you guys want to get together anyway?"

"Yes, please!" Aubrey responded almost instantly.

"I'm down for that."

Chloe jumped off her bed, ready to grab something other than pajamas when Aubrey sent another text.

"Only…"

"What?"

"Perhaps, if you both are willing, you should come to my home tonight."

* * *

Aubrey sent them her address and Beca, seeing that Chloe would have to take a streetcar, came and picked her up.

"Jesus," Beca let out a whistle when they pulled into the thin driveway that snaked around to the back of the long duplex and parked behind Aubrey's white Lexus.

"Yeah, I know! This place is beautiful! Wow!"

They headed up to the front and rang the doorbell.

It took a second but then Aubrey answered, smiling politely at them. "Hello!"

"Oh my god, Bree!" Chloe gushed as she let them into the large living room. She was so excited to be in Aubrey's home that she missed the look of shock on Aubrey's face at the nickname. "This place is beautiful!" she cried, taking in the room. It was _not_ what she would have expected from Aubrey's home.

The ceilings were vaulted high as a lot of homes in the pricey Garden district were, and the two white couches looked soft and plush and new. The room was sparse, clearly put together well and perfect for formal guests but it was the color scheme that had her surprised. While the couches were white and the coffee table and rug between them were black, the walls were a bright and festive orange; perhaps not an obnoxious orange but bright orange all the same with white trimmings.

The house was a shotgun which meant that each room led straight into the next all in a row. Therefore Chloe could see the dining room through the thrown-wide french doors and the doorway to what looked like the kitchen.

She eyed the dining room, in the same color scheme but covered with paintings, each vibrant and bright, and was amused to see that the kitchen was in a deep crimson.

"Did you remodel after-"

"Yes," Aubrey nodded, her hands clasped together against her stomach. "My grandmother had very good taste but it was very different from mine."

Stepping to the bookshelf, Chloe picked up a silver frame, studying the beautiful white haired woman. While the photo was taken of the woman sitting regally in a rocking chair, there was a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "What was her name?"

"Silvia," she said in a soft voice.

Chloe looked over her shoulder, not surprised when she saw Aubrey just behind her, looking as well. She smiled but passed the photo to Beca. Beca looked for a moment and then smiled up at Aubrey.

"She's beautiful."

Aubrey lovingly took the picture and replaced it on the shelf, lingering for a moment before she turned back to them.

"So like," Beca started, filling the silence, "we're hanging out here from now on, right? I mean, no offense to your place Chloe, but I found parking for free, there's room for us all to sit and I see a distinct lack of roaches."

Chloe laughed and gave Beca a shove that sent her toppling onto the couch. To this day, Beca was still wary of her kitchen. Once, when they had found a spider in the corner of her studio, Beca had even left. Chloe was beginning to wonder if Beca was going to start hanging out with them outside of Chloe's window, just to avoid coming in.

"Oh, _and_ ," Beca popped back up, "it doesn't smell like beer, urine, or vomit."

"Hey!" Chloe warned, shoving a laughing Beca back down. "Stay down, lady." She turned to Aubrey, who was still standing a little stiff beside the couch as though she wasn't entirely sure how they had come to be there. "So you realize that this place is a _block_ from the Mardi Gras parade route?"

"Dude!" Beca cried, "Are you serious?" She popped back up, and just because she wanted to, Chloe shoved her back down again. Beca squawked, her hands flailing, slapping at Chloe's.

Aubrey laughed a little, "Oh. Yes, I know. It's an easy walk."

"I guess I know where I'm staying this Mardi Gras! Seriously, it's _so_ hard to find a bathroom. You know, Beca, people actually rent Porta Potties and charge people on St. Charles to use them."

"Ew."

"Yup." She turned to Aubrey with a grin, "So I hope you don't mind a house guest."

Aubrey's mouth opened and then closed as she gave a small head shake. Aubrey stepped around Chloe then, moving to sit down but Chloe was sure, absolutely positive that she saw a small smile break through Aubrey's shell, the kind of smile that said that while it was August, Aubrey was pleased that Chloe had just made plans that included her for the end of next February.


	7. Chapter 7

There's a little bit of a time jump in this chapter!

* * *

 _ **Beca**_

* * *

"What does that button do?"

Before Beca could answer, there was a loud bass _thunk_ as Amy pressed the button on the MIDI controller, apparently too excited to wait for the answer.

Amy cackled, completely unaffected by Beca's death glare.

Annoyed at its lack of strength, Beca turned back to her work, letting her glare fade. She had almost lost herself in her process again, trying to decide what the hell should come next in this calypso brass band beat when, from the side of her desk where Amy was sitting, a pale hand crossed back into her line of vision.

"What's this one do?"

Amy pressed and music suddenly began to blare into Beca's headphones, making her yelp and rip them off.

"Dude! Get - off!" Beca cried, grabbing the book that was never out of reach these days and smacking Amy with it. "Go - away!"

"There's no way that Anne would approve of this violence!" Amy cried, slapping back.

"I'm trying to work!"

"No need to be crabby, crab shack!"

"What? What does that even mean? Like...am I supposed to be a restaurant? Or..."

Amy just shrugged as though that might have been exactly her point but she wasn't going to say.

"I don't-" but Beca let the sentence fall. She rolled her eyes and, when she was satisfied that Amy was under control of herself, turned back to the composition software she was working with, trying to focus. Her head began to bob as she hummed what she had already written. It wasn't bad. She was definitely getting better at this, which was good because for a while she hadn't been sure that she was going to which, yeah, that had been a little bit of a hit to her ego. She prided herself on being _good_ at what she did. She _was_ good at this. Beca Mitchell was good at her job, damn it. Even if she had sucked lately.

"I can't believe you're still reading this. You must be the slowest reader in all of the Americas." Amy scoffed.

"Mmm, that's the third one," Beca said without bothering to look up.

"What?" Amy looked down at 'Anne of the Island' as though she wasn't convinced.

"Yup. Totally the third one, dude. Not reading the first anymore."

"You know you're the lamest person ever for reading these, right?" Amy picked up the small paperback and flipped through it, a look of boredom on her face.

Beca just shrugged, sitting back in her seat and possessively snatching the book back, "Shut up."

She actually _liked_ the Anne of Green Gables books, which was weird. She hadn't told the other two that she had started reading them after their second get together. She wasn't sure why, but she hadn't. It wasn't like they would judge her or make fun of her, as a matter of fact, they would probably love it but she still kept it to herself. It sort of felt like admitting she was reading them would be admitting something much larger, something she wanted to keep for herself...for now...which...whatever.

The books were interesting because while she knew that Chloe took some deep meaning about Aubrey from them, the thing was when Beca read these books all she could picture was Chloe...and yet they were _Aubrey's_ favorite books. It was weird. But if she had learned anything it was that these girls were weird. Awesome. But weird and - so complex.

Her phone gave a ding as though they knew she was thinking about them and Beca grabbed it, already grinning.

"Hey, sexy ladies."

Beca saw the text from Chloe and her grin grew, giddy laughter already bubbling inside of her.

Their friendship had changed a lot over the last few months as they had moved from August to September to October and this was one of Beca's favorites.

She waited, looking over the music notes with her phone in her hand, waiting for Aubrey to respond.

Her amusement grew as the line stayed silent, until finally after a solid ten minutes Beca, unable to hold it in anymore, texted back, "You know you CAN respond when she says things like that, Aubrey."

Aubrey's response came almost immediately, a fact that made Beca scoot down in her seat, amused as she held the phone a bit too close to her face. Because somehow that would help her read faster. "How am I supposed to respond? I am at work!"

Beca let out a loud laugh. She had turned her back to Amy when she had gotten the text and now Amy leaned over her shoulder, reading. "Hey!" She jerked away, glaring and setting her phone down far from Amy.

"What? You got something to hide?"

"No!" Beca cried, but she knew immediately that she had sounded a little too defensive.

"Let me see."

"No!"

"If you don't have anything to hide then let me see!"

"No!"

Amy reached for the phone but Beca slapped her hand, giving her a warning wide-eyed look that Amy only copied.

They both sat for a moment, frozen and then, "OW! DUDE! THE - FUCK - IS - WRONG - WITH - YOU?" Beca cried as their hands slapped together, their faces craned as far away from their slap fight as possible.

"Fine!" Amy finally cried, glaring and making Beca snicker.

"Ha! I win!"

"You know what?" Amy started to get up and that made Beca recoil and yelp.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

When Beca had first started, she had been pretty sure that the very last person at Mardi Gras World she would have wanted to know was this loud tour guide. Especially because Amy had greeted her by welcoming her to the circus and then had shown her how to properly chest bump; a feat that still sent Beca flying if she wasn't aware the chest bump was coming. Somehow, though, Amy had become her best friend in the city. Well. Her third best friend following these other two nerds that she adored so much.

"You can say pretty much anything, Bree. Even a hello would work for me. ;-)" Chloe had texted back while she and Amy were fighting.

"Fine." Aubrey sent and then, "Hello, Chloe."

Beca let out a loud laugh.

After that night with the drunken college guys, their plan of meeting after a date had become a weekly staple. Through July and August Chloe always had a line of men and women she was working through, dating casually as she continued her search for 'her one' as she called it. Aubrey had seen Dolton a few more times, and even Beca had been able to scrape up a date or two. No matter who was dating whom, though, the three always found themselves together at the end of the night and slowly as September brought in a new summer month for Beca, that pattern began to change. It started as putting off one date, or maybe two until eventually all three of them had begun skipping the dates in favor of simply heading to the designated apartment as soon as they could. If Aubrey and Chloe minded then they never let on. They dates they did have were often planned for earlier in the evening or cut off before the night grew too late to be sure they had enough hangout time. They didn't even ask what the plan was anymore as much as announce what time they would be at the other's place and then negotiated based on schedules.

It was strange. They were growing comfortable with one another.

No, they _had_ grown comfortable with one another.

Somehow, despite the weird way they had met, the three had become friends… _good_ friends even, the kind of friends that Beca had not often had in her life.

"What's wrong with me calling you both sexy, Bree? You KNOW that you both are."

Beca grinned, her stomach feeling like a carnival ride. She was included in this! Chloe had included her in this!

And yeah, they were often a little flirty; like, as a whole had grown flirty over time, liked to flirt, friend-flirt, whatever.

It was fun and totally innocent.

Honestly, it wasn't even surprising. Beca had given in a long time ago now and admitted to herself that both Chloe and Aubrey were freakishly beautiful and once that had happened the flirting had just started to come naturally. She blamed Chloe, who seemed to live with flirty as her home base. It was just how she operated. Beca wasn't even entirely sure that Chloe was aware that she was doing it. That or, Chloe was completely and totally aware that she was doing it and just liked their reactions; she didn't know.

"At work!" Aubrey responded and even though they couldn't physically hear her, she could hear the way her voice would stretch and crack a little under the overwhelming weight of Chloe's teasing flirting.

Beca loved it. She knew they both loved it.

"Are you trying to tell me that your employees don't know you're sexy, Bree?"

"Keep in mind," Beca jumped in, "we were with you when your assistant called to ask you out."

Aubrey was – well, Aubrey. She couldn't let down her hair; she didn't lose herself in fun or in a moment of being stupid. She scheduled and over planned everything. Still, Beca found that the more she got to know Aubrey the more she liked her idiosyncrasies. They were hilarious. She had never been friends with someone so uptight before. In fact, she would have normally run the fuck away from someone like that. Only, the more she got to know Aubrey the more she realized that who Aubrey was - exactly who she was - amused the hell out of her.

 _And_ , Aubrey _had_ been relaxing with them, slowly but surely. Her back was a little less straight when they sat on a couch together; Beca and Chloe with their legs tossed over the other's while Aubrey sat pressed into the _far_ opposite end. She laughed more, and it wasn't always just the polite titter they had grown used to hearing. Every now and then it even seemed like a totally uncontrolled thing, her nose would scrunch, her hand would come up to cover her mouth, her eyes would twinkle, something that never failed to send Chloe from her happily bubbly self to an explosive ball of energy.

The place where Aubrey had come alive the most, though, had been in their text messaging. She joked. Actually joked.

"You've never sent someone something sexy while at work, Bree?" Beca added, barely holding in her laughter as she imagined the shade of purple Aubrey's face would probably turn when she read it, and the bray of adorable laughter that Chloe would release upon seeing it.

"Never a sexy text or maybe a picture?" Chloe sent, picking up Beca's teasing with flawless ease. She and Chloe, they worked together like a well-oiled machine, especially where Aubrey was concerned.

Aubrey's new level of comfort wasn't quite enough for Beca _or_ Chloe. They were both on a mission to get Aubrey to let go of her iron grip on her control, at least for a few minutes. Hence the 'sexy ladies' text. They had both been doing things like that as of late, pushing a little further, joking, teasing, being more and more inappropriate in the hopes of surprising a genuine response from their uptight friend.

Maddeningly, Aubrey still hadn't cracked, though. It was freaky and Beca was both impressed and aggravated. How did she always have that kind of control over her responses? It wasn't normal.

Aubrey would sing pretty steadily now; never on her own, but Chloe seemed to be able to pull that from her. However, neither woman really considered her willingness to sing a sign of letting go. Aubrey had been in a collegiate choir and therefore had four years of vocal training under her belt. It wasn't 'letting go' if you were trained to do it. These days she did dance too - not a lot and not like she was comfortable doing so but in a way that told Beca that she had grown tired of Chloe asking every time there was music on.

They both liked these habits, but she never drank quite as much as the other two, she never laughed quite as hard - she just never _let go_. When they asked her why the response was always baffling. Each time Aubrey gave them the same slightly scared look, muttered something about bad habits and quickly left the room or changed the subject.

They didn't know, but they were going to make it happen one day. They were on a freaking mission.

"I'm ignoring my phone now," Aubrey responded in the same stuffy tone as always.

"Oooooh, Bree! Noooo! Okay, we'll be good. How are your days, ladies? What are you two up to?" Chloe sent before Beca could respond.

And then there was Chloe. Freaking Chloe. Beca rolled her eyes just thinking about her. Fucking silly, crazy, lovable Chloe. She was Aubrey's counterpart in every way. It took Beca a while to get used to the way that Chloe was so - Chloe. She was so silly and dumb and fun loving and sweet yet she was so fucking _smart_. She was so smart it was intimidating. She was 90% of the way through a Ph.D. at freaking Tulane and yet when she spoke she used a language that Beca was sure had come out of a teenager's repertoire. Beca loved the contradiction. Chloe was a walking contradiction. She loved the way that while Aubrey did her best to touch either of them as little as possible, even going to great lengths not to pass too close to them unless she had a few drinks in her, Chloe wanted to touch them _all of the time_. Well. Okay, yes, it still made Beca uncomfortable but she was working on it. There was just no way not to have an intimate relationship with Chloe. She just couldn't be near you without touching you in some way. She played with your hair, she squeezed your arm, she rested her head on your shoulders, she put her feet in your lap. At first, it had been kind of flattering. Beca had never known a woman to do things like that without meaning it in a very _specific_ way. She had spent a solid two weeks at one point trying to decide of maybe Chloe _had_ meant it that way. The thing was, even though Aubrey rarely returned the physical affection, or even seemed comfortable with it, Chloe did those things to Aubrey too. As a matter of fact, it seemed almost second nature to Chloe, so Beca had stopped overthinking it and had just given in to the friendship and that had been nice – was nice.

Especially right now when she had so much on her plate.

They were still in the first week of October but already her job had kicked into high gear. For the first time ever she was working out of Mardi Gras World, trying to get ready for the Halloween parade with 'The Krewe of Boo'. And the place was _insane_. It was half a museum and half a workspace which meant that the entire warehouse was always at decimal ten of loudness. It was a cacophony of noise all day as tours went through and people used various machinery to work on their various floats, some for Halloween, some for Mardi Gras the following year and many events in between.

A loud honking noise pulled her from her thoughts and the conversation she was having over her phone.

"Amy!" She cried, immediately exasperated. "Stop pressing buttons!"

"What? Who's pushing buttons?" Amy shouted, looking around as though she might catch the culprit. "What does that one do?"

" _Dude!_ "

"Alright, alright!" Amy hissed when Beca picked up her book and used it to swipe at her hands. "What's happening in cyber-land over there? Anything good?"

"Giving Aubrey a hard time."

"So, business as usual then?"

Beca laughed, "Pretty much." A little reluctant to put down her phone, Beca turned back to her desk, "Okay, so yeah, okay. I need to, you know, _actually work_ so if you're gonna stay then, I don't know, read this. Over there." She handed Amy the book with a smirk.

"Yeeeeeeah, I don't wanna. I have a tour later anyway."

"Cool, but hey, um, can you maybe _not_ come and introduce me this time?"

The tours happened three times a day and each time it was the same thing. Amy would bring around a large group of people, showing them the inner workings of the museum and every time one of those stops was Beca's office.

She never did much but it still was completely distracting having to stop, listen to the loud music from the warehouse, wave at the strangers and give a totally awkward smile like 'yes, hi, I'm one of those music people that makes some of the musics.' It was just weird.

"Can't do it. Always been part of the tour. Boss lady would have a bird."

"Ugh." Beca groaned, pulling her headphones back on with a snap. "Fine."

She actually got some work done over the next hour, despite the fact that Amy was still trying to experiment with her sound equipment. She was just thinking of taking a break when her phone rang with Chloe's name.

"Hey," she said, hearing two people already talking. That didn't surprise her, more often than not these phone calls were three-way calls. "Whoa," she cried, instantly uncomfortable when she realized that Aubrey was in tears. "Dude, what happened? Oh my god!"

"Chad," Chloe told her in a low voice as Aubrey sniffed.

She should have known. "Shit. What did he do now?" Honestly, Beca wasn't huge on people. Like, that just wasn't her strong point. She tended to find them annoying and so she avoided them. But of all the people out there, Chad/Bumper/whatever was probably her least favorite.

"You know that client?" Aubrey asked, her voice soft like she was hiding in her office.

"Alister?"

"Yes. She chose _Chad_."

"What?" Both Beca and Chloe cried.

"She chose _him_!"

Sometime in early September, Aubrey had been confronted by a furious client, insisting that they paid for their renovation and then no one had ever shown up again. It turned out that Chad had simply forgotten to file the paperwork, so no one had ever been assigned to the project. Aubrey had been furious. The whole situation had taken a week or more to resolve, had given them their first bad Yelp review, and had slowed every other project when they pulled people off to give them to the angry customer. On top of that, it had cost them a lot of money in apology comps which had only pushed the company even further into the red. Chad had never admitted he had done anything wrong, though, and Beca thought that had been the worst part for Aubrey.

After that disaster, he and Aubrey had decided to work independently within the company. They each took on their own clients and had nothing to do with the other's. It seemed to have helped Aubrey's stress level, until Monica Alister. It had been such a big thing in Aubrey's life as of late that even Beca knew the client's name. Both Aubrey and Chad wanted her as a client; Chad because he thought that Monica was hot and Aubrey because she had absolutely fallen in love with the old plantation house where Monica lived.

"Okay, how could she have gone with him?" Beca asked, offended on Aubrey's behalf. "Is she kidding?" As far as she could tell, Aubrey had created a multi-scale presentation about her plans for the house while Chad had simply promised that he would 'make it better'.

"I can't understand what she was thinking!" Chloe shrilled.

"I'm not sure," Aubrey admitted, her voice far softer than either of than had ever heard it. "However I just received a call from Chad in which he told me that he signed her fair and square. And then," she paused, breathing out a long sigh into the phone, "he made this god awful choking noise and told me that was the sound of his _balls in her mouth_."

"Oh ew!" Chloe cried.

"He then went on to tell me that if I fought him on this he would call our father. As though we were ten again and he was going to go tattle. It was disgusting. And, I don't know, is that what _ball sucking_ is supposed to sound like?" Aubrey asked, clearly baffled. "It was so...gross."

"Well," Beca started slowly, "I dunno, Bree. What did it sound like?"

"There's no need to repeat it." Aubrey sighed and in Beca's mind's eye, she could see the way that Aubrey would be rubbing her forehead and temples.

"I don't know," Chloe said, her voice thoughtful. "I think maybe we could tell you if you let us know what he said it sounded like."

Beca could almost feel Chloe's conspiratorial grin on the other end of the phone. In truth, she had _no_ idea what… _that_...would sound like. She couldn't say that she had ever paid attention at that exact moment and those moments had been _rare_ in her life but still, she was going to follow Chloe's lead here. "Yeah, probably." She said in her most casual voice, silently shushing Amy and putting the phone on speaker.

"No! I'm not going to repeat it!"

"I mean, how can we accurately know, Bree?" Chloe reasoned.

Aubrey let out a stiff laugh, "You just want me to make a fool of myself, don't you, Chloe?"

"No way!" Chloe cried right back. "We're just trying to be helpful. So. What did it sound like?"

"I guess you could also call Dalton back and do some research, Bree." Beca chimed in, grinning.

"I'm not – I don't – I am _at work_!" Aubrey hissed but Beca could hear that her voice sounded a little less strained, falling back into their usual habit.

"You're in your office! Come on, please! We want to know."

"Yeah, it would be interesting to know if your brother has ever even heard a girl sucking on his balls."

Amy's eyebrows went up in surprise, mouthing a large ' _what_?'

Beca smirked a little but went on, "Somehow I kinda don't see him ever getting laid."

Aubrey made a noise of disgust but they heard the distinct sound of her office door clicking closed. "I don't know. It was this gross _gurgling_ noise."

"Like what?" Chloe's chipper voice came, making Beca cover her mouth in order to stay silent.

"Like...I don't…Chloe!" Aubrey let out a little laugh.

"Come on, just do it!"

Aubrey was silent for a long moment before she cleared her throat and made a quick and horrible choking noise, something between gagging and a turkey gobble.

"DUDE!" Beca cried, flailing so much that her chair nearly tipped, "I didn't think you were actually going to do it!" She doubled over, as Chloe hiccupped and wailed on the other line.

"Yeah, noooo, sucking on dingleberries has never sounded like that," Amy muttered.

There was silence on Aubrey's side of the line for a moment before she bellowed, "BECA, AM I ON SPEAKERPHONE!?"

"Oh shit!" Totally caught she straightened up, her eyes still streaming, "NO!" She bit her lip, "Okay maybe? But I swear, it's just Amy."

There was a sudden indignant noise and then Aubrey's end of the line went dead.

"Oh shit, did she hang up?"

"Yup. We should maybe call her back. Probably."

The three shared a laugh for another moment before Beca kicked Amy out and they called Aubrey back.

"Beeeecccca!" Aubrey immediately cried and the little bit of worry that had snaked into Beca's chest faded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't actually think you were going to do it but if it counts it really made my day."

Aubrey just huffed and Beca was sure she heard a small very soft laugh.

"Okay," Chloe finally said when their laughter died. "Seriously, though, you okay? I know you really cared about this client."

"I did." Aubrey's voice was all at once sad again. "I just know that she isn't going to be happy with her experience. Chad is going to be terrible to her and the job will not be done as well as it could be. He'll be too busy trying to get into her pants."

"I'm so sorry, honey." Chloe cooed, "I know you worked hard to get her to sign with you."

"Listen," Beca was pretty sure that they were all planning on spending the evening together that night; it was their unofficial plan for every weekend but still she said, "Come out with us tonight."

Chloe gave an excited gasp, the kind that had filled Beca's heart with terror when she had first met her, thinking something bad had happened like a fucking meteor had just fallen from the sky. Now she cringed, but she just waited for Chloe to explain what she was excited about. "Yes! Let's actually _go out_! Oh my god, please!" When Aubrey stayed silent for a moment Chloe continued on, "Come on, you guys haven't actually let me take you out to the Quarter yet. Let's go have some fun. Let me show you both off."

"I don't know, Chloe."

"Please, Aubrey? You can bring anyone! Either of you! Let's go out and really have a good time! I promise we'll make it worth it. Come on, I'll invite Stacie! Beca, you invite Amy. Let's go have some fun together, pleeeease! I could so use some fun!" Chloe was all but whining now and even through the phone, Beca could feel the pull of her huge blue eyes and full pouting lips.

A loud bang resonated from Aubrey's line, a small yelp, and then a shout of, "Did you call dad?"

"What?" Aubrey's voice was a little muffled, like she had pulled the phone from her ear.

"Did you - Dad! I signed her fair and square!"

They could hear Chad shouting, trying to get through to the person on the phone despite the fact that Aubrey kept insisting it was not their father.

"Chad! It's my friends! Why would I do that? It's not -"

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" Bumper wailed, his voice cracking like a teenage boy. "YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS, _PEE-BREE_!"

"Chad!"

" _BUMPER_!" He all but squealed, "BUMPER!"

"Chad, stop it!"

"Bree!" Chloe cried, sounding both furious and mortified. Aubrey and Chloe were still in the habit of falling into silly and pointless fights. They argued about politics, they argued about history, they argued about whether the price of apples at the French Market had gone up by a dime, they argued about pretty much anything but when it came down to it, Beca was sure that Chloe would attack anyone who was mean to Aubrey. You didn't really want to mess with Chloe. She was a fun, bright ball of sunshine but she could intellectually rip anyone down to the quick with her reasoning skills. It was terrifying to watch.

Beca listened to the chaos on the other line, cringing while his voice still called for their father. God, she just hated him. He was so mean to Aubrey and yeah, she got that maybe Aubrey was a little uptight and that they were brother and sister but he was just a total fucking douche.

"Chad, I refuse to do this with you! Stop! Stop pulling my hair! Shit! Ladies, I have to go!" Aubrey finally cried into the receiver.

Wincing, Beca had to agree.

"Okay. Meet us tonight, okay?" Chloe shouted fast, "We'll have fun."

"Alright!"

"And Aubrey, _do not dress up_!"

"Yeah, dude, if you show up in slacks I'm sending you home!" Beca added.

"Alright!" There was laughter in Aubrey's voice for a moment despite her fight with her brother - whatever was happening - and then her line went dead.

"You know, I'm really getting sick of that jerkface." Chloe sighed.

"Yeah, well imagine how she feels."

"It's horrible."

"Yeah. I know, but I think a night out sounds good. Meet you tonight? Like eight?"

"Sure."

"'Kay, see you."

* * *

Beca was exhausted when she got off of work. She felt like she had been slamming herself into a brick wall all day trying to get this music out. It wasn't because she was having a hard time with writer's block or whatever she got, but because Mardi Gras World was just the worst when it came to actual concentration. Amy had brought two tours by that afternoon. _Two_. It was driving her nuts because it was so frustrating. Each time she had to stop what she was doing and smile and wave at a group of tourists who were all looking in at her like she was a goldfish in a bowl...she got a little more crabby.

Plus, how was she supposed to work on a rhythm when there were so many other beats happening? There was music being played in the workshops, music being played in the lobby, there was even music being piped into Beca's office. She had been forced to ask the IT guy to come in and unplug her speaker because it just wasn't working.

And then there was Aubrey. She had been a little distracted by what she had heard that afternoon. It shouldn't make her as mad as it did. It wasn't really her business but it really pissed her off.

She was glad to be free of Mardi Gras World for the night and she was ready to have some fun. It was true that Chloe had been hinting that they needed to go out. She had been hinting for months that they needed to hit the town at least once before winter really set in, so Beca knew that Chloe was going to be pleased.

"Hey!" Chloe cried when she jerked open her downstairs door, immediately pulling Beca into a hug.

Beca hugged back a little awkwardly but Chloe didn't seem to mind.

"How are you?" she asked, taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs, just like she always did.

"Good. Yeah, fine. Just tired." Beca stared at her own hand cupped in Chloe's and wondered why this always gave her such a bad case of butterflies. Well, she supposed she knew why – she had come to terms with that the month before but the response was a little pathetic.

"Why are you so tired? Are you not sleeping enough? Too many nightly visitors?" Chloe shot a mischievous look over her shoulder and Beca scoffed.

"Oh yeah," she dryly answered, "my bed is just crawling with people so how could I ever sleep? Ugh, that was _one_ time, Chloe!" She groaned, "One girl!"

"A very lucky girl." Chloe grinned and Beca just had to shake her head.

"So when is Bree supposed to get here?"

"Soon, I think. She sounded really stressed when I talked to her earlier, Bec."

"Well, we'll take care of that."

"Yes, we will!"

"So," Beca moaned as she fell onto Chloe's chaise, "Amy is gonna meet us at St. Philip and Bourbon later tonight. I told her like nine or so."

"Awes, I'll text Stace."

The buzzer went off and Chloe dashed back down the stairs to let Aubrey in.

They came back up a minute later, Aubrey's shoulder a little slumped, hand still in Chloe's from being pulled where Chloe wanted her; aka the standard way of traveling beside Chloe Beale.

"Hey, Bree."

"How are you, Beca?" Aubrey asked, releasing herself from Chloe.

Unlike Chloe, who hugged both of them until it felt like their heads were going to pop, thus far Aubrey and Beca hadn't really hugged. It wasn't a thing, as much as neither woman were huggy people. There was enough of that with Chloe. Instead, Aubrey came and settled in beside her on the chaise and gave her a small smile that was personal enough that she was happy with it. Beca gave one back, feeling something bordering on shy, and they both were content.

It had taken Beca a long time to be sure, but she thought that yes, Aubrey did actually _like_ them.

…Probably…

Perhaps assuming that Aubrey needed some love, Chloe fell down between them, gave Aubrey another hug and then flopped over, resting her head in Aubrey's lap and shoving her feet into Beca's.

Beca chuckled, amused by Chloe's serious lack of personal space needs. Moments like these were always amusing and they made her wonder what it looked like when Chloe did this stuff to her, if her face was ever as comical as Aubrey's was.

Like always, Aubrey just stared at Chloe's head in her lap for a moment like she had no idea what to do with it and then, seeming to think it was right, she reached down and played with a few strands of Chloe's hair. Chloe, a sucker for touch, immediately started to purr, which was apparently too much for Aubrey. Her hand stilled, twisted in the red locks and simply sat there.

Aubrey was an affectionate person, Beca was _sure_ of that. She could all but see Aubrey's decision to refrain each time something like this happened. It always made Beca wonder the same thing, _why_ and _was_ she trying to tell them something with this wall she put up between herself and them? She liked them…was content to be their friend…totally…she wasn't, um, concerned about that at all anymore. Except for moments like that one.

"How was the rest of the day?" Beca asked to cover her slightly uncomfortable thoughts.

"Oh," Aubrey scowled, her hand closing again in Chloe's hair. "I guess it was fine. This morning was just frustrating."

"Did he ever believe that you were not talking to your dad?"

"He did. When I was willing to show him the phone, which, I was not until you both were no longer on the line."

"That whole thing," Beca scoffed.

"I know." Chloe scowled, turning over and running her hands over her face, "I can't _even_!"

"Yes well," Aubrey shifted a little in her seat, always seeming uncomfortable when they got mad on her behalf. "My employees seemed to like the show. This afternoon I heard one of them calling me 'Pee-Bree' behind my back, which," she picked up some of Chloe's hair and let it flop back down, "was not my favorite moment of the day.

"They were actually calling you that?"

"Yes."

"O-M-G!" Chloe gasped.

"I suppose that I cannot blame them when Chad calls me by that nickname so openly."

"Right," Beca scowled, "So um, question. _Why_ does he call you that?"

"Oh." Aubrey blanched, looking down at Chloe's inquisitive face in her lap and going even paler. "Well."

"I mean," Beca hurried, "you don't have to tell us. I was just curious."

"No," Aubrey politely rolled her eyes, "it's fine. I am no longer a child and I can handle this." Beca wasn't entirely sure that she was telling them as much as she was telling herself.

"Um,"

Aubrey took a long, deep breath her back going straighter, her chin in the air.

And yeah, Beca knew that she had a thing about bugs and everything but the longer the story went on, the more she felt like the bug was _on her_. It took everything she had not to get up and get into Chloe's shower.

"Oh! Poor thing!" Chloe frowned, her hand closing on Aubrey's. "You were five!"

"Yes well, Chad seems to remember the event just fine. As a matter of fact, he remembers that specific event much better than most events."

"Wait," Chloe's arm shot out, "hold the phone. Bumper is your _older_ brother."

"Oh please, don't call him that," Aubrey gasped. "That name is ridiculous."

"Yeah, I kind of assumed kid brother. No?"

"No." Aubrey sadly shook her head, "Chad is actually my older brother by four years."

"Wow." Beca blinked. She really hadn't guessed that.

"Yes." Aubrey gave an understanding nod.

"I'm sorry he's such a dickhead."

Aubrey let out a laugh, her hand caressing Chloe's hair again for a moment. "Thank you, Chloe."

Their topics strayed for a bit after that, waiting until it was time to leave.

"You know what I want?" Chloe asked a bit later, checking the time.

"What?"

"A daiquiri."

Beca scowled. Slushy drinks were the 'it' drink in New Orleans; Hurricanes came blended, daiquiris could be found on every street corner, there were parlors everywhere in the Quarter and often outside of it. Thus far, though, Beca hadn't tried it. She loved sweet anything but somehow a frozen pink Slurpee-type drink or a bright blue liquid just didn't seem like it was going to be a good night or a good hangover.

"Would you like to get one from downstairs?" Aubrey asked, always surprisingly attentive to the other's needs and wants.

Beca groaned, feeling her natural grumpy self kick in. She knew that it was almost time to go and while the whole going out thing had seemed like a great idea earlier, she just wasn't ready. "It's time to get up soon, isn't it?" As strange as it was, she was comfortable and she didn't want to think about moving.

"No," Chloe sat up, answering Aubrey's question. "But if we go now we can go to the really good place before we meet Amy and Stace."

Beca groaned again, just in case they hadn't heard earlier.

"Come on Becs, I bet you'll like it."

She didn't really know if she would or not, but at the moment she was feeling very contrary; the human interpretation of the grumpy cat.

"Please!" Chloe gave her a pout.

"But like, if we stay here for a little longer then we will be _here_ for a little longer."

"Oh my god, you're such an old lady. Come on! You'll like it."

Beca scowled as the full power of those eyes turned on her. "No! Not looking." She ducked her head away, avoiding her gaze.

"Please!" She felt Chloe pulling on her arm, laughter in her voice as she forced Beca's face back around.

Damn it. She hated when Chloe did that. It never felt fair.

She knew she was going to give in.

"Puuuleeease!"

Beca just gave a grunt, fully aware that if Chloe was pouting then it was her job to play the grump...especially when she was feeling so grumpy.

"Help me." She nudged Aubrey, a playful glint in her eye, and to Beca's great surprise Aubrey turned to her, pouting as well.

Beca stared, transfixed. Chloe had done this before. Chloe did this all of the time but Aubrey had never once… her eyes were such an unusual shade. Beca felt her cheeks warming as she gaped, trying to decide if Aubrey's cream blouse was making her eyes seem bluer today or more gray.

"I came down here, in something other than slacks I might point out, so we might as well do the evening the right way, Beca," She said. As Aubrey said it Beca watched as her neutral colored lips turned up in a small knowing smirk. Chloe grinned and it was as though the intensity of the twinkle in her irises doubled, pinning Beca with their combined power.

"Eyes. You - you - eyes."

Beca heard the voice and realized it was her own. Shit. She gave a start and gasped as though she had just broken through the surface of very warm water. "Okay whatever is happening right now isn't fair. You guys are cheating."

Chloe let out a giggle, leaning heavily into Aubrey's shoulder but Aubrey's smirk just grew.

Well, this was a new tool that she was pretty sure they were both going to use always.

"Ugh. Fine. Evil. Freaking. Women." Beca pulled herself up, stomping a little unsteadily. She waited for a second and then frowned back at them, "Well?"

"Oh!" Chloe gave a start and then bounced up and Aubrey followed slowly after. They were both still watching Beca, teasing her - she knew that - but she was beginning to fidget.

"Wha-" Beca blinked, a little too dumb in that moment to respond. She had no idea what this teasing thing was that Aubrey was doing but she kind of loved it. "H-okaayyy!" She scoffed, "I can't handle you two right now. I'll be -" and she turned and stomped toward the door, ignoring the sound of Aubrey and Chloe laughing as they went.

* * *

"Um, Chloe?" Aubrey called when Chloe let them out of the apartment and marched right by the entrance to the bar she lived over.

"I told you," Chloe turned walking backward, "those aren't the good ones! Come on!" She held out her hands as though she expected them to be taken, which, this was Chloe so she probably did.

Beca frowned, glancing at Aubrey and back.

"The drinks in the quarter aren't good," Chloe added on, her hands twitching, demanding to be taken.

Aubrey, for her part, chuckled and moved to Chloe's side, but pointedly did not take Chloe's hand. Chloe gave an exasperated sigh and dropped that hand but continued to hold the other out for Beca.

"Wait," Beca shoved her hands down into her pockets and followed. She liked when Chloe held her hand – which was exactly why her hand was in her pocket right now. "Isn't that like _exactly_ what the quarter is known for?"

If Chloe was surprised or disappointed that Beca didn't take her hand then she didn't show it. She just turned and started down the street with them. "That's why it's ironic. They're all really watered down and really expensive. Let's get more _bang_ for our buck."

"So, where are we going?"

"Out of it!"

Energy radiated from Chloe as they both followed behind her for a few blocks. It couldn't be clearer that she was really looking forward to their night and the thought made Beca smile a little.

Chloe marched them straight out of the Quarter and down the street a block.

Beca wasn't all that worried, not really, well not until she realized that the very sketch gas station they were walking by was actually the _destination_. "Uh, Chloe?"

But Chloe didn't answer, her chin high as she marched; on a mission.

Beca glanced at Aubrey, seeing that she looked about as nervous as Beca was suddenly feeling. Still, perhaps a bit foolishly, they followed Chloe, something they were a little too prone to do, as she approached the huge glass doors of the station.

"AWCK!" Beca cried out, her face suddenly buried in red wavy hair, another yip coming from behind her when Aubrey then walked into her. Chloe had stopped just outside of the gas station doors so abruptly that she had created a small pile up behind her. "Ow." She frowned, rubbing her nose. "What just happened?"

Chloe was saying something to the young homeless man standing just outside the door, her face alight.

Aubrey grumbled behind her, Aubrey's hands still clutching Beca's shoulders to keep her in place, something that Beca couldn't help but to notice since she rarely touched either of them. A little disoriented, Beca steadied herself but before Beca could refocus on what the hell was happening Chloe was gone, disappearing inside.

"Um," Beca stared uneasily at the homeless man she was suddenly face to face with.

"How ya doing? Hi. Richie." He offered his hand and Beca habitually took it, giving it an awkward shake.

"Um," she said again, glancing a little baffled at Aubrey.

"I think we're supposed to follow her."

"Right." Beca gave a nod but just as she touched the door handle it was flung back open, forcing Beca to leap backward to miss being running over by Chloe.

"Here you go!" Chloe beamed, handing a _huge_ Styrofoam cup to the homeless man.

"Thank you, ma'am, thank you so much!" He was smiling at her like Christmas had come early.

"It's strawberry," she beamed, fluffing her hair a little as though trying to draw a correlation between the two.

"Great!" he smiled and took a sip. "Thank you!"

"Chloe!" Aubrey hissed behind Beca.

"What?" Chloe beamed, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

Sensing tension in the ranks Richie looked between them and scurried off, giving Chloe another head nod as he went.

" _You bought alcohol for a homeless man_!?"

Chloe frowned, seeming honestly confused. "Of course. Why not? I just figured if we're going to have a good night then we might as well pass on the favor. Pay it forward."

Beca rolled her eyes, a fond affection filling her. Only Chloe would do that.

"You can't _pay it forward_ with _alcohol_ , Chloe!" Aubrey's hands were still grasping Beca's shoulders and she was beginning to wince as they bit down, gripping her painfully.

"Oh please!" Chloe laughed, her eyes sparkling, "That is literally one of the first purposes of alcohol! Passing on alcohol or leaving it as a tribute to your god and your ancestors goes back to biblical times, Bree. Alcohol is always tribute. Why do you think people leave shots at the tomb of Marie Laveau? Drinking alcohol is about indulgence so of course it's used to give some back."

"' _Libation_ ', the practice you're talking about, Chloe, I'm sure was water!"

"Not after the time of ancient Greece! We just _gave_ the tribute to someone instead of pouring it into the ground."

"You don't even know if he was twenty-one!" Aubrey was still hissing under her breath, her neck stretched as she tried to keep her voice just between the three of them.

"Oh, Aubrey!" Chloe laughed, waving her off.

Uh oh. As soon as Beca saw the brush off she knew these two were heading for another spat.

"You can't be serious right now, Chloe! I mean, food is one thing, yes, but you didn't know anything about him. What if he has a problem with alcohol? What if he's an _alcoholic_?"

"Then for the next few minutes he's going to feel a little better. Oh come on, don't give me that look, I'm not saying I support him having a drinking problem at all, but,"

"Oooookay!" Beca loudly proclaimed. She had seen too many of these fights already and knew that how the evening would go after was 50/50. Sometimes the two ended their argument laughing but other times it was World War 3.

She was pretty sure that Aubrey liked Chloe just as much as Chloe liked her, after all, Aubrey _did_ laugh with them and she did keep coming around. It was hard to say exactly what was happening in Aubrey's mind since Chloe was so open, it threw the scale a bit. When Chloe was happy to see you or just feeling generally affectionate then you could see it all over her face, but Aubrey tended to just give a very controlled blank nod. Despite all of that, Beca did think they were all honestly friends, which meant that these spats between Aubrey and Chloe were no big deal. Maybe.

Beca wasn't about this fight, though, especially because at some point they would turn to her and ask her opinion which was always her least favorite because there was no way to not piss off someone. And this time she thought Aubrey might have a point. "Leeeet's go!" She pulled Aubrey up, pleased when her hands were no longer on Beca's shoulders and shoved them both a little bodily through the door. "We have a scary gas station to go into, remember?"

"What would you do if something happened?" Aubrey insisted as they entered, glaring at Beca a little for pushing her around like she was. "What if there was an accident or something? That makes you responsible, Chloe!"

" _What_ , Bree? What could possibly happen with one dri-aaaaa," Beca had grabbed Chloe by the hand and proceeded to spin her, twirling her out so her skirt flowed out to the sides as she gave a giggle. She wasn't an expert at shutting the fights down but she was sure that dancing would do it. And she liked this song.

This was one of her favorite things about New Orleans. It had taken her about a month to realize that the answer to her 'where can I find music in NOLA' problem was everywhere. She had felt a little dumb and like she wasn't paying attention but it was true. Music was everywhere; playing out of most stores and shops, playing on street corners; even in this very questionable gas station there was a lively jazz band number playing over the speakers.

Beca spun Chloe back in and then twirled her out again in time with the music. Before Aubrey could continue arguing she grabbed her and attempted to do the same, hearing Chloe's delighted giggles as she _tried_ to spin Aubrey. The problem was that Aubrey was a freaking giant compared to her. She tried to reach over her head to twist and spin Aubrey and couldn't make it.

"Damn it!" She cried, jumping a few times in hopes of making it work.

Chloe was laughing loud now, drawing the attention of the other patrons while Aubrey's laughter was small and in her chest, but still very much there.

"Fuck!" Beca scowled, dropping her hand, embarrassed as she saw Chloe's grin and the twinkle in Aubrey's eyes, "ohmygod, fuck off." She grumbled, starting off in a random direction to simply get away from the humiliation.

Chloe caught her, hugging her and cooing her apologies while Aubrey, after a moment's hesitation, politely patted her shoulder. "Come on!" Chloe released her as Beca gave in, smiling even though she really didn't want to.

The place was huge and, as it turned out, not just a sketchy gas station as Beca had thought; it was also apparently a hangout spot. Which was weird.

Once you passed through the aisles of alcohol bottles, bags of chips and candy you suddenly broke into a large wide room. It was tiled just like the rest of the station, the large windows still covered with ads for gas, cigarettes, and beer; only the left wall turned into taps upon taps of the alcoholic slushies while the right side held a weathered old pool table, empty bar, and bar stools.

Beca stopped mid-aisle, not entirely comfortable when Chloe just blew through the stacks and into the open space. Her hips were still swinging to the overhead music, seemingly totally unaware of her dancing or the fact that she was drawing every single eye from the older men sitting beside the pool table and smoking cigars.

"Yes!" Chloe cried, "They have my favorite again!"

Beca watched the men share congenially pleased looks as Chloe bounced and danced.

"So, this is a place people actually hang out?" Beca asked in a low voice.

"Oh, totes! Some of my best college parties happened in places like this."

Beca opened her mouth, staring blankly at Chloe before she had to admit, "I don't know how to respond to that."

Chloe just flashed her a wink, "Try one. I love the 'Maui Kiwi'."

Aubrey stepped up beside her as Chloe grabbed a tiny tasting cup for herself and the two others. Aubrey's knuckles were white, her lips pursed so hard that they had completely disappeared.

Beca got it. This place kind of looked like they might get malaria from the taps but, she took a deep breath and gave Aubrey a little push. "Come on."

Aubrey's eyes narrowed but she didn't shy away.

"Guys!" Hips still shaking a little, Chloe padded up, "Try this one." She held out two small plastic shot cups.

"Here goes nothing." Beca took it and clinked it with Aubrey's.

Turned out it was good.

Actually, really good for a sugar junkie like herself.

She took another of the little plastic cups from the stack and moved to the tap that looked the least scary.

"Beca!" Suddenly there were hands on her ribs, shaking her, "Relax! This place is totally normal. Come on." Chloe gave her a little pull, moving her back from the taps, her hips swishing as she danced her back into the open area between the taps and the pool table. "Come on."

Beca stood lifeless as Chloe bounced and swayed around her, her arms rising and falling back down with a slap when Chloe picked them up tried to get them to move.

Chloe gave her an exasperated look that broke down Beca's disgruntled annoyance. She let out a snort and, when Chloe started dancing again with her hair bobbing and her arms in the air, Beca joined her, a little embarrassed.

She wasn't sure why she fought Chloe at this point because it went the same way every time; she gave in. And she always had a million times more fun once she caved and did whatever it was that Chloe was making her do.

Just like always, once she started to dance she found herself laughing, a little less aware of the guys who were watching them with Chloe beside her. That was kind of the thing, how could you notice like _anything else_ when Chloe was close to you and smiling like that? Well. Maybe one other thing was visible…

She let Chloe spin her back to the taps and, together, they bounced and moved as they tried a flavor and then another before turning to assault Aubrey.

Aubrey was harder to convince than Beca, even with Beca on her front and Chloe behind. They didn't touch her, Beca wasn't sure that either of them would have the guts to touch her like Chloe had touched Beca in order to get her to move. Hugging her was one thing, but trying to force Aubrey - physically force her out of her shell was a whole separate matter. Putting your hands on her ribs, spinning her, shaking her; yeah, Beca couldn't see any of that happening. Still, they danced around her, bouncing in a circle, arms waving, hips swinging and rolling and eventually Aubrey, with a stiff laugh, gave in.

"Yes!" Chloe high-fived Beca, which only made Aubrey laugh harder.

They danced for a few minutes before Beca broke off in search of her drink. It was October and yet it was still hot enough to produce large beads of sweat from even that much gas station dancing.

She watched, sipping another sample cup, as Chloe and Aubrey danced together, loving the difference between Chloe's wild and crazy dancing and Aubrey's tightly controlled movements.

She cleared her throat, shaking her head.

Watching Aubrey dance was awesome, but it was also like listening to the voice of a person with a very bad cold; you spent the entire time clearing your own throat because of how much phlegm they had in theirs. It couldn't be helped. It was compulsory. Watching the way that Aubrey stiffly moved her body made Beca want to lose control of hers a little more. It made her want to take Aubrey by the hips and shake her, rub against her, make her move until the chains of her tightly held control were broken and they could really see the woman underneath.

She watched Chloe spin in a circle around her and knew that Chloe felt the same way.

Still. She shot a tiny cup of the frozen drink and then took another; she had to admit that Aubrey's weird fist clenched tight movement was almost… _hot_. Just about as sexy as Chloe's wild, hair in her face, lips parted dancing was. And it still weirded her out that she found the dancing sexy.

And it made her feel guilty.

She watched Chloe teasingly bump her hip into the taller woman.

In truth, Beca was pretty sure that they both had a bit of a crush on Aubrey. Which was complicated. Though not as complicated as having to admit that she also _knew_ she had a crush on Chloe.

A big crush on Chloe.

And on Aubrey.

Yup.

Big crushes on her two friends.

 _Big_.

Basically her best friends.

She shot another sample, enjoying the double discomfort of the cold and the burn of the alcohol.

It was like her.

Find friends and then find some way to push them away.

She hadn't even known it was possible to have a crush on two women at the same time. That was why they had been able to get her out of Chloe's apartment so easily earlier; being with them was often like a 1-2 punch.

And sometimes she thought – with Chloe – but – no, probably not – it was just – sometimes?

Disturbed, she grabbed one of the little bottles on sale beside the cups, unscrewed it and shot the rum and then another.

It was a problem.

Or at least she was pretty sure it would be a problem if they knew, if anyone knew.

She liked – had a crush on – whatever – Chloe – and Aubrey but Chloe liked Aubrey – Aubrey liked no one and _no one_ liked her. It was the goddamn plot of a Shakespearean comedy.

This was great.

They were her friends.

It was good that they didn't know.

She put the little bottles beside the cup she was planning on using so she could pay for them and turned back to the girls.

"Chloe!"

All heads whipped around to see the tall brunette that was coming through the door.

"Stacie!"

They didn't know Stacie well, in truth Chloe didn't even seem to know Stacie well, but they had seen her around once or twice. She seemed nice enough.

"I was about to gets my pregame on!" Stacie called, skipping in their direction. "You know about this place too!"

Chloe gave a giggle and charged her friend, jumping on her and wrapping her in a hug. Beca watched with a scowl as Stacie kissed Chloe's cheek. Glancing at Aubrey, she gave a stiff nod, "So. Um. Let's actually get those drinks? How long have we been here?" She rambled, "Jesus, Amy is going to be pissed!"

She needed to reel that shit back in.

Aubrey cleared her throat and with a nod in return and a 'yes', they both went to the taps, Beca focusing a little too much on her drink choice.

"Guys!" Chloe called, dragging Stacie over by the hand. "Remember my friend Stacie?"

"Work buddy," Beca gave a nod. "Hey."

"Ooooooh, I remember you!" Stacie purred, hugging Beca in a way that lingered on for just a moment too long. Then Stacie jumped back a little, "Oh _god_ , I remember you too!" Stacie cried, her back going suddenly stiff and tall when she saw Aubrey.

Aubrey let out a single cough of a dry laugh and wordlessly turned, heading back to the drink machines.

"Stacie!" Chloe smacked her hard in the arm.

Stacie looked down at her own hand which had a second before been holding Chloe's and Beca thought that maybe for Stacie the real punishment was the fact that it was now empty.

They filled their huge cups and sipping them, they started toward the front.

Beca frowned. The sugariness was awesome but the drinks weren't all of that strong.

She paid for her drink and the two previous shots and then, when no one else was looking, quickly paid for six extra shots; one for her, one for Chloe, Stacie, Amy and _two_ for Aubrey.

"Hey wait up." She called as they started out of the store. "Lids off."

To Beca's surprise, with ever trusting Chloe in the lead, they all did it and so, without any warning at all she dumped both extra shots into Aubrey's drink - who wailed her name and tried to push her away, and then one in each of the others.

"Ooooooh," Chloe breathed, her big doe eyes flicking from her cup to Beca and back. "Tonight is going to be interesting."

"Hell yeah, it is. These drinks are deceptive." But Stacie however just beamed and gave Beca a big kiss on the lips that made Beca laugh a little uncomfortably. It wasn't terrible.

They started back to the Quarter's bright lights, laughing and teasing, each politely - or in Stacie's case less than politely, sipping their drinks and talking, one voice lapping over the other.

* * *

Please remember to review! I would really like to know what you guys think about these chapters specifically.  
And we'll see ya tomorrow morning!


	8. Chapter 8

_**Beca**_

* * *

"Fucking finally!" Amy cried when Beca, Aubrey, Chloe and Stacie walked up a few minutes later.

"Sorry!" Beca grimaced. "We got a little sidetracked. There was this gas station and, you know what, never mind." She offered up the extra strong daiquiri that she bought for Amy and Amy seemed to forgive her instantly.

"So where to?" Beca asked around her own straw.

Chloe and Stacie exchanged a look and a shrug. "I didn't have anywhere specific planned," Chloe said. "So I guess let's walk?"

Beca, it turned out, really liked Stacie. She had thought, based on their interactions the day that she had met Chloe and Aubrey, that Stacie might be a little bit of a predator; a cat on the hunt. It turned out that she, well, _was_ but she was also funny, a little vampy and yet very witty and smart. She couldn't stop throwing goo-goo eyes at Chloe, which she didn't like, not for any real reason of course, but just a general, discomfort. She supposed, like it or not, she got it. She couldn't blame her even. Actually, she almost felt bad for her because though her arms were around Stacie's waist, Chloe seemed entirely unaware of the apparent crush that Stacie had.

There seemed to be a lot of that going around.

She and Aubrey followed the New Orleans residents as they walked confidently past the sawhorses that had been put up to stop automotive traffic, and started down the very middle of Bourbon street.

"I didn't know you lived so close to this," Beca jerked her thumb over her shoulder, pointing out Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.

"The bar? Oh yeah," Stacie gave a shrug, "but there are better down here. That place is a tourist trap."

"Yeah, but it's where we met," Chloe announced and threw a grin at Aubrey.

Aubrey, for her part, blushed, cleared her throat and took a large gulp of her drink.

They walked for a bit and as they did Beca began to feel as though they were entering another world. One second they were surrounded by darkened apartments and homes and the next the city exploded.

The crowds thickened, not quite shoulder to shoulder yet as some stumbled, some meandered down the street. Bands were playing from every restaurant, the notes from one mixing with another and creating something that was not quite an unpleasant gumbo. People were shouting, street performers were bellowing rap songs and making loud robotic noises. In front of a few viewing houses men were holding out fliers with naked women on them promising their buffet was good, and their women were hot.

This was what she had expected from the Quarter.

Eyes wide, she was staring at all of the neon signs, each with their own Cajun twist, and a little overwhelmed by the din so Beca didn't notice the drunk guy teetering her way until she had been vaulted sideways. With an honest scream, she cowered into Chloe as she realized that the hard thing she had bounced off of was a policeman on a giant of a horse.

"Watch it!" The cop shouted while the tail of the horse whipped, catching Beca in the face and all but making her climb onto Aubrey's back in an attempt to get away.

"Dude! Horse! That's a fucking _horse_!"

"Well, they can't exactly drive a car down here," Amy snarked, sending the man on the horse an interested look. "Come on, short stack, that wasn't even that big. My pony back home was twenty hands. We named it Little Foot."

Beca just blinked at Amy, her arms still protectively around herself.

"Hold your tits, I'm gonna give this bloke my number. I need some protection down under, ya know?"

Beca just continued to stare, aghast.

"Oh! Look at these guys!" Chloe shouted, trying to grab Beca and Aubrey in one hand. "They're my favorite."

Beca let out a yelp as, still skittish about the giant beast that had almost killed her, she was roughly shoved forward. She squeezed between the people that Chloe was shoving them through, ignoring the grumbles around them and toward the front of the crowd.

Two men were standing together like statues but behind them somewhere music was building.

"What is it?" Aubrey asked.

"Street dancers! They're the best. I don't know why they don't dance in a troop or with a company."

"Oh I asked them once," Stacie said, appearing at her side. "The little one, that one, said they make three times the cash from tourists."

"I'm not surprised."

They watched as a drumroll started in the music and one of the men's hands began to robotically move as though playing the drums.

"Oh, are these the robot dancers?" Amy asked, purposely bumping the man in front of her with her belly so that he would move. "Oh yeah, I know these guys. The little one and I had a few - moments - together if you know what I mean." She smirked and then used her hand to mimic a very intimate motion outside of her lips, her tongue protruding her cheek in time.

"Ew." Beca scowled.

"Hey, me too!" Stacie called and the two high-fived.

"Beca,Beca,Beca watch!" Chloe cried, excited.

The music swelled, and one man began to dance, his arms popping and locking, his chest moving as though not connected to his body and then the other started in a surprisingly perfect impression of Michael Jackson.

"Fuckin' look at that!" A man behind them bounced off of Amy's back and into Aubrey.

She gave a yelp, and her hand fell onto the back of Beca's neck, trying to stay with the party.

Beca blinked, a little startled as the soft warm hand landed on her and...stayed, her thumb on one side, her fingers on the other. She felt a small squeeze, and she realized that Chloe's hand was in hers. She hadn't even realized it. How long had it been there?

God, these two were going to drive her crazy. She took a long sip of her drink, careful not to move too much so neither hand would leave.

The dancers were good, and she cheered just as loud as everyone else, dropping a few dollars in when they brought their bucket around for tips.

"There's so many like that!" Chloe insisted as they started down the street. "There are these two break dancers down there that do all of this stuff on their heads, and _oh_ , there's a little girl down here who has such a pretty singing voice." She prattled on at top speed.

They spent a while walking down the streets, smushed into a small bundle as the Quarter filled to the brim with people. She could see now why the police cut off traffic down Bourbon after a certain hour. There was literally no way all of these people could fit onto the sidewalks.

As usual, it was easy to laugh with her friends that night, especially as their drinks began to slowly go to their head. The new presence of Amy and Stacie didn't change that dynamic at all, and the more they laughed, the less the tight space and ample people on the street was a problem.

"Oh, Beca! Listen," Aubrey grinned, craning her neck to look over the crowd.

"Hmm?" Beca frowned, biting the straw which seemed to be living between her lips as she squinted at the tall blonde through one eye.

"The music!"

Maybe Beca was starting to get a little drunk because she could hear music alright but she could hear it from like ten different places. She had no idea which one she was talking about.

"I love this song!" Stacie grinned and began pulling Chloe - who grabbed Aubrey, who grabbed Beca, who grabbed Amy - and they started down the street.

The band had only just started to play it seemed and they were _good_. Beca watched, impressed by their talent. It was so weird. She knew that out here it was a perfectly valid choice to be a street band - it could even be a full-time job - but immediately her mind drifted to how they would do as a band in a studio - maybe even in a studio with her.

That had been something she wanted once. As a matter of fact, the time she had spent with Jesse, her ex, had been filled with job interviews for studios and even a stupid internship. It wasn't until she had gotten her job with the city that she realized she had a different option that she kind of liked more.

Chloe and Stacie began to dance, appreciating the music, Chloe happily singing along with the New Orleans standard. Actually, as it turned out, Beca was the only one who felt awkward singing along. Each of them, in turn, began to dance while Beca just sipped her drink and scowled, her mind working over the possibilities.

"Come on!" Aubrey shook her head, pulling Beca in, "If I am dancing then at the very least you should be dancing, Beca."

She probably should have protested a bit but fuck it. The rum was leaving her chest with a very warm bubbly feeling.

"Look at these fine ladies right here bringing all of these people in! Right on, ladies! Right on!" The main singer cried into his makeshift mic, getting up to dance with Stacie as he poured over the next verse.

He and Stacie shook their booties together for a while, sending one another flirty grins while Chloe had scooted her way over to them and the three danced happily in a circle.

"Alllriiiiight!" The singer cried when the song was over, bowing to Stacie and giving the other's a round of applause. "What about this one, ladies?" He asked and started into an upbeat version of '(I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My) Sister Kate'.

Like clockwork the rest of the group burst into song, startling Beca with their uniformity.

"Hey, Ginger!" The drummer called from beside them and passed over a bottle of liquor.

Chloe took it, taking a large sip and then passed it to Aubrey, who also swallowed down a healthy bit.

"No!" Chloe cried, taking the bottle back and handing it over to Stacie.

"Dude! Rude!" Beca cried.

"You!" Chloe glared at her, pointing so close to her nose that Beca went cross-eyed, "You need to sing for your supper, missy."

"Missy?" There was that accent again. Beca heard it so rarely that she had to grin, feeling her stomach doing a grand parade of cartwheels at its appearance.

Aubrey gasped, looking delighted.

"What?" She frowned and then groaned, "Oh. Singing. Yeah, no, I'm thinking not."

"Come on Becs, I know you know the words!"

She did, but she wasn't going to share that information just then. "That is, ugh! Whatever." She turned and started dancing with Amy, which was more of an extreme sport than she perhaps wanted.

"You fighting with your girlfriends?" Amy asked in that blunt way that made Beca freeze.

"They're not-"

"We're not fighting! I'm making a point!"

Of course, Chloe had followed her. Beca scowled over her shoulder as she heard her signature giggle not far from her ear and suddenly a straw was at her lips, not Beca's straw but Chloe's. "Maybe if we get you a little drunker then you'll sing."

Aubrey, who had also followed, nodded and once Beca had taken a drink from Chloe's, she pushed her own straw into Beca's mouth.

Obediently Beca sucked and then gasped, having forgotten she added so much more alcohol to Aubrey's. "How are you still standing right now?"

Aubrey shrugged, the move only slightly disoriented.

"Fuck," Beca took her drink from her and poked the straw back into Aubrey's mouth where it belonged.

Aubrey's eyebrow popped, but she took a long drink.

"More."

Aubrey did, her hips beginning to sway as the music picked up into a new song and the three began to dance again for a minute before they broke apart, Aubrey and Chloe moving to steal another nip from the bottle while Beca was caught by the sax player.

Things were starting to get a little fuzzy for her. She was beginning to move with the delightful inhibition of delayed synaptic responses, everything moving on instinct and she loved it.

"So, you don't sing?" The sax player asked.

"Not in public!" She yelled around her straw which was still planted between her teeth, sucking down a bit more of her drink. "In the _shower_ maybe and for sure in the car but not _here_. Nope. No way." Alright, she was a little drunk.

"Oh come on, this is the French Quarter! Give into the spirit. No one here cares what you sound like."

" _I_ care what I sound like. Isn't that kind of enough? Right? That's-" She turned and found that neither Aubrey nor Chloe were beside her anymore.

She wasn't sure of it was Chloe's doing or of they were just more entertainment, but when she looked back, she found all of her friends occupied with members of the band. One had Aubrey, spinning her fast, in and out, moving her in a way that Beca had to admit was impressive while another had Chloe, dipping her fast, the harmonica that was propped on his shoulders wobbling as he played.

"Miss?" The sax player grinned and offered his hand, a nearly hopeful look on his face.

She didn't want to dance with him, not really, but Chloe had just been spun into the arms of a random man on the curb and Aubrey was laughing, far more relaxed and comfortable than she ever seemed when dancing with them. Suddenly she wanted to be out there with them, she wanted to be dancing and moving out in the space where they were.

She was...the fuck, she was a little jealous.

Maybe it was the drinks.

Yes. She decided that it was the drinks.

She let the man spin her, laughing when, her feet a little dumb, she collided with Chloe.

"Hey!" Chloe beamed, "Where'd you go?" Beca rolled her eyes as Chloe snaked an arm around Beca's waist without a moment of hesitation, playfully rolling her body. "Drink this."

Beca obediently took another drink of Chloe's synthetically tropical kiwi concoction and grimaced, " _Gaaah!_ Ugh! Gross! Ugh! Dude, you should be doing that to _Aubrey_. Not me! I'm drinking my drink! She's barely had _any_ of _her_ drink."

"Okay!" Chloe cried and disappeared.

The sax player gave her a smile and reached for her again, pausing for a second to play something quick and loud before he pulled her in, kicking and spinning her fast.

"'Kay, I did it!" Chloe chirruped. "She's drinking it!"

Beca looked around, a little dizzy and found that the person against her back was Chloe.

"Oh," she said weakly, a little surprised, "that's – that's good."

Beca wasn't sure what happened then exactly. All she knew was she was dancing with the sax player with her back against Chloe and watching Aubrey a few feet away.

"Shots!" Stacie cried, reappearing at her side, feeding her one and then another from plastic shot cups and then feeding Chloe as well.

She was probably pushing it a little bit, letting her body bump and slide against Chloe's, moving as though she didn't know she was there, even though she could feel a hand on her hip from behind. And yeah, this wasn't exactly 'bump and grind, ' but it was probably not _smart_ either. Not when she was a little drunk, and she could feel herself thinking less and less as more alcohol entered her bloodstream.

No, she knew it wasn't smart. Especially when Chloe's hand closed on her hip and, abandoning the man she had been dancing with, turned and folded Beca into her arms, laughing and hiding her face in Beca's neck for a second before they picked up. The sax player gave her a very satisfied grin and kept dancing, despite Chloe laughing and swaying heavily on Beca's back.

Maybe they _both_ were a little drunk.

Beca couldn't help but to notice how much she liked the feeling of Chloe over her back like this, attached like a spider monkey, her chin on her shoulder, her arm draped over the other.

"Look," Chloe called into her ear, pointing at Aubrey a few feet away. "Doesn't - doesn't she look amazing, Beca? She's _dancing_! She never dances with us like that! She's always all _frigid_."

She watched Aubrey follow the man who was leading her with ease, her smile large.

Beca frowned, feeling that green monster rising again. "Yeah, she does."

Maybe she really was mostly straight.

"Bree!" Chloe suddenly shouted beside her ear, her arm reaching out over Beca's shoulder, "We need you! Come here."

Aubrey turned, and something strange flashed across her face. Beca knew she had seen it but she wasn't sure of what it was, she wasn't even sure she had thought much about it. How could she when Aubrey flashed them a smile and began to make her way to them.

Now Beca _knew_ she was pushing it. She couldn't help it. Being sandwiched between the two was going to her head.

She was being flirty.

She had pulled Chloe out from behind her and had Chloe's hand in her own, spinning her in and out and around while she bounced and shook with Aubrey.

She knew she was being flirty because the surrounding men looked delighted.

She _knew_ she was doing it.

She kind of wanted to do it.

What was that song? ' _Blame it on the a - a - a - alcohol_ ' - she had a perfectly good excuse, right?

And her friends weren't complaining.

And it was fine, right?

It was the alcohol.

In the morning they wouldn't even think twice about it. Just a couple of friends being silly together.

It didn't mean anything.

Okay so, she was attracted to both of them. So what? They were both beautiful women.

She spun Chloe in and felt her stick, her back pressed into Beca's front, her arm crossed across her body so her hand could stay in Beca's, her wide eyes digging into her with teasing pleasure.

She loved the way that Chloe looked at her like that, like she was delighted with everything Beca was - like she was on the brink of a laugh.

She felt a pair of hips shimmy against her and she knew it was Aubrey, dancing a little more willingly than they had ever seen her.

Alcohol was great.

Why didn't they do this a little more often?

Like every night.

They should dance every night.

She could barely contain herself as she swayed, sandwiched between the two, rolling and rocking to the quick beat.

The problem was not that she was attracted to both women, the problem was that she didn't know which one attracted her more.

She felt Aubrey laugh, her long stomach pressed into Beca's back as her hips swung.

The thing was they were both so awesome in their own ways.

Yes, logic dictated she needed to choose or to walk away from the attractions but she just didn't know. Logic also dictated that she should go for the one that she had _seen_ with a woman, right? Totally, yeah. And she loved that. Was literally stoked about that. Hells yes. Chloe was amazing.

Except – there was Aubrey too.

Chloe carelessly turned and threw her arm over Beca's shoulder, laughing hard when it also landed on Aubrey's behind her.

They were both so awesome, that was the freaking problem. Chloe was fun...but so was Aubrey in her own way. Aubrey was sweet...but so was Chloe. Chloe was sexy but fuck, so was Aubrey. Like really.

Yeah. She was a teenager with a crush. So what?

Plus. What would she do if she decided that one was dateable? Would she date her? No. That would be the shittiest thing ever for her to do. And it really did seem sometimes like maybe Aubrey really wasn't even an option. So maybe...

Though now was not one of those times. And that was why she was confused.

Stuck between them she could feel her thoughts turning into something smutty, into something dark and lustful. She tried hard not to, but they were both so close to her, and the drinks were playing a trick on her brain - their bodies were playing a trick on her brain. What was wrong with her? She was drunk. She needed to get some water and stop being so drunk. Who had decided that they should get this drunk?

The song changed and with a cry of delight Chloe's hips picked up pace, "I love this song!"

Beca didn't think she could handle it. She could feel them both rocking against her, she could feel her palms beginning to sweat, she could feel -

"Chloe!" Stacie called, making her turn away from Beca.

Beca let out a long breath and then sucked one in fast, trying to ignore the tickle across her shoulders which she was sure was coming from Aubrey's swaying hair.

"Come here!"

Chloe nodded and gave a giggle, ready to run to her friend but paused and kissed Beca's cheek, a silent thank you for the dance that made Beca's brain go foggy…foggier.

That had to be it. It was the kiss. Chloe had hugged her, had cuddled her, had attached herself to her like a barnacle, but she had never kissed her before.

It had made her brain stupid. That had to be it. That had to be why when she heard Aubrey give a disgruntled huff she had assumed it was about her own lack of a kiss and therefore she had leaned back, leaned heavily into Aubrey - so heavily that she felt Aubrey's hands on her waist to keep her upright - and placed a kiss on the underside of Aubrey's jaw.

She hadn't meant to do it there. She had meant to give her a casual kiss on the cheek like Chloe had just given her. Instead, she felt the momentary soft skin of Aubrey's jaw, smelled her expensive makeup and perfume, and froze for a millisecond, her eyes blown wide.

"Okay!" She cried, giving her hands a clap and hoping if she was fast enough or loud enough then neither of them would notice her awkward blunder. She swallowed the rest of her drink in two large gulps and gave a nod, "I need a drink!" She slipped away fast, mortified, her cheeks burning and marched right into the building across the street. She hadn't even checked to be sure it was a bar, for all she had known she could have walked straight into a viewing house or a strip club.

Luck was on her side, though, and once she fought her way through the crowd of people to the center of the room, she found a bar there.

It took her a long time to get new styrofoam cups and even longer to figure out how to get them all back to her friends.

"Awe, thank you Beca." Aubrey grinned. "How much do I owe you?"

Beca just shook her head, still a little uncomfortable with the fact that she could feel the skin of Aubrey's jaw on her lips.

"Well thank you." She gave her a smile, and Beca's stomach flopped.

"Finish that." Beca pointed to the first cup. "No, I mean like now, like, yeah, finish it."

Aubrey did, and Beca took the trash to throw it away.

She was on her way back when an arm suddenly caught her.

"Can I have another dance?"

She glanced over at her friends and was momentarily distracted by the way that Chloe and Aubrey were dancing, how tightly wound around Aubrey Chloe was.

Clearly, the alcohol was hitting all of them. And see. She didn't need to think twice about it. She wasn't the only one - actually, she wasn't even the special one. Chloe was touching Aubrey the same way she had touched her. She didn't need to - she didn't know, think twice about it?

"Sure."

He pulled her in close, his sax slung on his back and spun her, making her laugh.

"So, you really don't sing?"

"Nope."

"But why? It's so much fun. You don't have to be good at it, you know."

She gave a shrug and glanced around. Aubrey and Chloe weren't far, laughing as they danced, watching Beca with the sax player.

"I dunno, it's just not -" she groaned, fully aware that at that moment everyone else was singing their heads off.

"Come on, listen to your friends and follow me – ' _Because!_ '" He sang, "' _Noooobody knows yoooouu_ '-" He grinned, giving her an encouraging nod.

Ugh, and who the fuck cared anyway. She was a little drunk. She was a lot drunk. Maybe more than a little. Maybe more than a lot. She was having fun. She didn't really give herself permission to do it but she opened her mouth and sang back, "' _When you're down and ooooout_ '. There. Happy?"

"Don't stop now!"

She groaned, rolling her eyes and stomping a little. And then she was just singing, her back pressed against the sax player's side as they swooped and took over the song, " _In my pocket, not one penny, and as for friends, I don't haaaave anyyy._ "

"Right on!" The sax player grinned, grabbing the bottle being passed around and handing it to her.

" _If I ever get on my feet again. Everybody wants to be my long-lost friend._ " She tipped the bottle toward him in a salute and took a drink, not minding as much as she should when his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her close again. " _Said it's mighty strange, without a doubt!_ "

"Damn girl!" The lead singer shouted.

Jubilant, the sax player danced her in a circle, singing with her at the top of his lungs, " _Nobody knows you when you're down and out!_ " He paused, grabbing his sax and wailing out the last final notes.

Beca was breathless as she clapped for him, impressed.

"Yes! See!" He reached for a high-five but before Beca could give it to him she yelped, suddenly vaulted back a few steps, surrounded by a cloud of red. "Chloe! Awwwk! Jesus!"

Chloe had all but tackled her, shoving her backward, away from the sax player and into Aubrey. "Oh my god!" Chloe breathed, her whole body pressed into Beca's side, her nose against her temple so when she spoke the words were right in her ear. "You _sang_!"

Beca's hand convulsed on someone's, she wasn't sure of it was still the sax player, Chloe or Aubrey who had it, but the feeling of Chloe's words brushing against her skin like that so suddenly - she gave a small moan. It had just been startled out of her by the sudden attack, by the sudden way her skin was being tickled. It should have snapped her back to reality, it should have helped to clear her hazy brain but, though Chloe didn't seem to hear the noise Beca had made, Aubrey did. There was a small gasp, and she realized that Aubrey was just as close, her nose pressed behind her ear on the opposite side. It made Beca want to reach up and tangle her fingers in her hair.

"Fucking shit," she whimpered, pressing her free hand into her eyes and trying to steady herself.

"That - was – _so – sexy_ ," Chloe whispered.

"Mm-hmm," Aubrey's voice drifted over her, "That was really very..." she cleared her throat.

Beca blinked, trying to stop her hand from wrapping around Chloe's waist.

She couldn't. She was trying not to take this personally. Everything was sexy to Chloe, this wasn't personal. She had once heard her say that an umbrella was sexy.

"You have to do that more, Bec."

Beca just made a disoriented noise of protest.

"You _have_ to sing more often." Aubrey purred into her ear, and Beca's mouth popped convulsively open, her chin shrinking to her shoulder a little as the words tickled in a way that no one should ever be tickled in public.

What the fuck was happening to her just then?

She couldn't even – handle - any of it.

They were so close, and the tickle of their words was doing things to her brain and her body and they were so close to her and – and – they were so close to her.

"Okay-" Beca tried to use her arms to push herself out from between them, "I'm drunk." She announced as though they would understand that they were going to make her head pop.

Neither let her go.

"Promise you'll sing more often," Chloe demanded, a ghost of a giggle passing across Beca's skin.

She was drunk.

God, she was drunk, and, "I uh,"

The hand in hers tightened, and Beca realized that it was Aubrey's.

"I uh,"

"Promise."

"You're so - dude, you're so close - to my _ear_."

"Oh." She felt Chloe giggle, "Sorry," She muttered, not moving away, maybe scooting a little closer. "I'm a little drunk."

"Uh,"

"Please. Sing." Aubrey pressed, a small breathy laugh rolling from her.

"Okay!" She couldn't do it. They both were there, and they were breathing on her and she - "Okay! I promise!"

"Okay good." Chloe kissed her cheek, her lips grazing across Beca's skin like fire.

"Fuuuuuck!" Beca moaned, not sure her knee wasn't about to give out, and she was _sure_ she felt Aubrey grin back at her.

"Who wants a splash?"

Chloe turned and accepted the bottle. She took a swig and then tilted it to Aubrey's lips. Aubrey yelped but swallowed down what was given.

"I'll uh, yeah," Beca took it and took a huge gulp, trying to soothe the burn.

Chloe beamed and turned to bring it to Amy.

"Are you drunk too?" She asked Aubrey, who was still so close.

Aubrey scoffed, giving a lofty hand wave that nearly hit Stacie as she passed by. "Please, I don't get drunk."

"Let me guess, not how you were raised, right?"

Aubrey laughed, blowing a small raspberry as her nose scrunched.

Beca grinned, thinking that perhaps they had finally gotten their wish and Aubrey was actually pretty drunk.

They moved on from the band then, much to Amy and Stacie's annoyance. As it turned out both of them had taken a very mutual liking to a band member but after a bit of grumbling, and a promise to stop there on their way back, they followed along.

Walking through the rambunctious crowd was almost impossible now. It was like trying to push your way through a riot. Beca, not being the largest woman alive, shoved hard against the sea of bodies, getting increasingly tired.

"HURRICANES! SAMPLES OF HURRICANES! TWO-FOR-ONE!"

Beca walked straight into Chloe's back, "Dude, you _have_ to stop doing that!"

Chloe grinned, passing the little plastic cup of the drink to her and then to Aubrey.

"These are good!"

Chloe nodded in agreement, licking the rim of her cup and smiling, "Come on!"

So they stopped into the bar for two-for-one Hurricanes, which was something that Beca wasn't entirely sure any of them needed.

Then down the road Stacie dragged them into a tiny and overstuffed bar for Hand Grenades.

"Fuck _off_ , I am not!" Beca cried, shoving Stacie off of her.

"But you are! You're so _little_!"

They had paused outside of a jazz club, enjoying the music through the walls and taking a moment to avoid being buffeted this way and that. It wasn't really working but they all were drunkenly glad for the break.

"What -" she shoved at Stacie who was trying to wrap herself around her again, "What are you doing to me! Come on! I - are you kidding me right now?"

"I could pick you up," Stacie cried, slothed over her so tightly that when she straightened she nearly did pick her up, "and shove you in my pocket."

"Dude!" Beca flailed. "I am a totally normal size!"

"What, your twig ass weighs like three pounds, right? I could wrap you up in bread and you would only be a light snack," Amy smirked. Unlike the rest of them, Amy seemed to be entirely unaffected by the enormous amount of alcohol that she had consumed.

"Oh my god, fuck off!" Beca cried, clawing away from Stacie like an angry cat.

"You know I was always told that I was too tall," Aubrey observed, taking the hand that was reaching for her and helping to pull Beca to safety.

"I think she's the perfect Beca size." Chloe grinned.

"BRUH!"

With an uncoordinated yelp, Beca ducked as a man's arm came flying at her face, sailing backward from where his buddy had shoved him.

There was a small scream from behind her as he collided with Chloe, nearly knocking her to the floor and drenching her in beer.

Chloe gave a sharp gasp and a shudder, her hands coming up to protect her face as the beer washed down her front.

The whole group stared in horror for a moment as the drunken man tried to get up again.

They heard the sound of cracking knuckles, and Amy growled, "I'm going to crush him into Pixie Sticks."

But no one heard her because Chloe's hands came down from her face, looking shocked and honestly upset...and that had set Beca off.

"Are you _kidding me_?" She shoved him, and he fell right back to the floor, making Stacie cackle.

"Is that how your mother taught you to treat a lady? You dickless piece of shit!" Beca knew she was a little drunk, but it was kind of hilarious how the man just stared at her, not bothering to try and get up again.

"Beca, it's okay. It was an accident." Chloe said in a small voice, trying to wring out her very wet blouse.

"Look, I'm sorry, miss. I tripped."

"It's okay."

"Aaaallllriiiiight!" Amy bellowed, fist bumping the air, "Wet tee shirt contest with a side of ass kicking!"

Beca was beside herself. Chloe's blouse looked like it would live to see another day after a wash, but the pale pink material had been a thin silk at best and now. Beca swallowed. It clung to her skin, to her breasts, giving her a very clear view of what was underneath and she just didn't need that. It wasn't helping anything at all.

Amy stepped quickly forward and surreptitiously pulled the shirt away from her skin.

Chloe gasped, understanding and obviously embarrassed; her hands coming up to cover herself as her cheeks went a very sweet shade of pink.

Beca couldn't get the image from her mind though and so she yelled, coming at the man with a fury.

Beside her, Aubrey snapped out of whatever drunken daydream she had been having and tried to help by dabbing some of the beer from Chloe's skin.

The man finally stumbled to his feet, giving Beca the middle finger and trotting off.

"Fucking asshole!" Beca yelled after him.

"Damn, little bit," Amy smirked at her and clapped her on the back, which only made Beca shrug away and glare.

"You know, of it helps at all," Stacie offered, not bothering to hide the way she was looking at Chloe's wet shirt, "I like what the shirt is doing to you now, Chlo."

Beca couldn't even fucking - she heard Aubrey gasp in distaste while Beca, cursing herself and feeling like a total sleazeball, turned on her heels. "Let's go! Let's go find a bathroom where you can clean up." And she started down the street without waiting.

The streets were even busier now. Amy led them through the crowds, shoving people unmercifully out of the way. Still, to avoid getting left behind Beca had to grab the back of Chloe's wet shirt while Aubrey grabbed hers.

The crowd was forceful though, and they were moving with it more than they were moving through it. They only got another two blocks before suddenly they found themselves shoved forcefully through the wall-less front of a bar.

A little confused they said fuck it, there had to be a bathroom and there was easily more to drink here.

"Hey," Chloe leaned against Beca, her forehead touching Beca's temple as she rested against her, once again shoving her into Aubrey's side. Aubrey didn't even seem to notice. She mindlessly wrapped an arm around Beca's waist to help her stay upright despite the pressure of Chloe, signaling for the bartender with the other.

Beca just gave a grunt, still a little grumpy.

"Thanks for standing up for me."

"What?" Beca squawked, wanting to burrow a little deeper into Aubrey's embrace. "Yeah, of course."

"Chloe, let's get you cleaned up," Stacie offered, pulling on her arm.

"'Kay." She nodded but smiled at Beca. "You're my hero, Bec." She ignored Beca's eye roll and once again kissed her cheek.

Beca watched her go, blinking and shaking her head, "Oh god, I'm drunk." Her head fell back, resting against Aubrey. "I'm like -" She turned in Aubrey's arm, not thinking much about it or the fact that she was pressed into Aubrey's side.

"Hi," Aubrey grinned at the bartender, unaware that Beca was against her, blinking stupidly and staring at Aubrey's profile. "Can I have five hurricanes and five shots of Bayou silver please."

Had she ever been this close to Aubrey before? Like, ever?

She wasn't totally comfortable, but it didn't occur to her to pull away, not when Aubrey still had her arm around her.

"Thank you." She nodded politely.

Beca blinked and swallowed, her heart in her throat as her eyes traced the line of Aubrey's jaw.

It was so close. Just right there.

Aubrey must have felt her eyes on her because she turned, her face still grinning, to survey Beca. It seemed that she was as surprised by the proximity as Beca was. Her face fell, blinking a few times. Had Aubrey's eyes always been so intense?

Aubrey's mouth opened, but it seemed she had little to say so she closed it again, the corner of her lips curling up.

"Oh! Yes! Drinks!" Chloe shrilled.

Aubrey's arm was gone from around Beca so quickly that she nearly fell, caught by Chloe who wrapped herself around Beca.

How much time had passed? Beca looked around, disoriented but all she felt were the masses of people pressing in on them.

"Are you guys having fun?" Chloe shouted, her accent abundant as she pulled Aubrey in as well.

Beca swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Good!"

"Bree, I'm impressed by your sobriety," Beca called over the din, her face in a scowl.

Chloe gasped, turning on her, "You're still _sober_?"

"I am _not_ sober." She promised, but she did so a little too steadily for Beca's liking.

"Here you go, ladies!"

"Are these for us?"

Aubrey nodded, blushing when Chloe cheered and stretched to give Aubrey a sloppy kiss on the side of the face, "That's perfect. Here." She held the shot up to Aubrey's lips. Aubrey laughed a little but took it.

"Good job. Now, here." Beca stumbled a little into Aubrey and then found it was easier to just go back to leaning against her.

"What? No! That's yours!"

"I don't think I really - I really need it!"

Aubrey's eyes twinkled as Chloe and Beca began to tease her, begging her to 'get on their level'.

"Please!" Chloe pressed into Beca's back, pushing so Aubrey was pressed against the wall by the weight of their drunken bodies. "Take it and come dance with us."

"With you two?"

"Yes!"

"We're dancing?" Beca looked over her shoulder at Chloe, not really wanting to move from this spot.

"Yes!"

A few minutes later Aubrey had taken the shots intended for herself, Beca and Chloe. Their other friends fell to the wayside as the three, laughing and yelling, drunkenly hit the dance floor. They danced with their arms around one another, teasing and cheering, huge smiles on their faces.

"Where did Stacie and Amy go?" Chloe yelled a bit later, pushing her hair out of her sticky face and frowning around.

"They're at the bar." Aubrey gave a nod, the grin she had been wearing since those last shots still firmly in place.

They turned, amused to see the band they had met earlier in the evening was at the bar as well.

"That sax player is staring at you, Bec." Chloe grinned, nodding her chin in his direction.

"Oh." She turned and saw that he was indeed glancing every few seconds in her direction as though hopeful she would come over.

"He's cute." Chloe said, her head tilting to the side as she studied him, "Aand _he_ got you to sing."

"That wasn't-" but she gave up before she even started, knowing it was pointless. "Whatever. I'm gonna get a drunk, err, a drink."

She pushed through the bar, amused when Aubrey stuck to her back and Chloe to hers. "Hi, can I have-"

"Wait!" Chloe suddenly cried, smacking her hand a little painfully over Beca's mouth.

"Mmm-hmm-herumhphh." Beca said, though Chloe's hand. The bartender's eyebrows rose in annoyance and then he moved on, apparently not at all about dealing with them.

"Why are we paying for drinks?"

"Um, because it's very difficult to get them in bars when you don't pay for them, Chloe," Aubrey reasoned.

"No!" Beca gave a yelp and grabbed Aubrey as Chloe yanked them toward Stacie, "I have like a _whole_ bottle at home! We should just go there!"

Aubrey gave a laugh, her head shaking violently. "No, I can't."

"Hmm?"

"Noooo way, I can't go back to your studio, Chloe. Bad idea. For me."

Beca watched Aubrey speak, her eyebrows high.

"Why not?" Chloe pouted.

"Bad habits. I -" Aubrey looked at them and then looked away, pointedly taking Amy's drink from her and sipping from it.

"'Ey! Watch it, blondie!"

"But we have to! Stacie, let's go back to my place!"

"Fuck no!" Stacie hissed, pulling them away from the band members.

"Yeah, I second that fuck no and follow it up with a yeah, no thank you." Amy shrugged.

"What? Come on! The night isn't over and drinks are so expensive and we don't have to pay expensive if we go home!"

"You guys go ahead, I'm so about to get lucky."

Beca gave her a little salute of understanding. Actually, now that she thought about it the idea of getting out of these crowds and of getting to a bathroom she didn't have to wait in line for sounded kind of awesome.

"Stacie!" Chloe frowned, "Pretty please?"

"Are you kidding? Have you seen how big his hands are?"

"Ew." Chloe frowned, giving the man a once over.

"Hey, why don't you invite them back?" Stacie grinned, huge and wide.

"What?"

Beca frowned, seeing that the sax player was still eying her. She wasn't so down for that. Not so – much.

"You should totally invite them back to your place."

"Stace, my place is tiny."

"Aren't we a little too old for inviting random men back to our homes?" Aubrey asked, this time leaning on Beca.

Stacie scoffed, " _You_ might be, but I like fresh meat."

"Ew," Chloe said again.

"Okay well, I'm going to get back to Mr. Hung-Like-A-Horse." Stacie gave them a flirty wink and she and Amy went back to the bar.

"Ew," Chloe said again and then gave a head shake.

"If it counts I'm totally down to go back."

Chloe gave a nod and turned to Aubrey, tipping a little so she stumbled into her and then just stayed. "Come on, Bree." Chloe let her head rest against Aubrey's chest, grinning as she ran a finger up and down Aubrey's throat, coquettishly waiting for an answer. "It will be fun, I promise."

Aubrey's face was comical. She somehow managed to turn both purple and white all at once as she began to repeatedly clear her throat.

"Please." Chloe pouted.

Beca gave a yelp when Chloe had given her a yank, sending her flying into Aubrey as well.

"It's always fun! Come on! Plus, we're going to have to eventually. Your stuff is there."

Aubrey frowned, her throat working as Chloe's hand stroked it, her other hand on Beca's.

Beca gave a stupid laugh, already nodding even though the question wasn't for her.

Finally, after a moment longer of staring at Chloe, Aubrey nodded, slow and nervous.

"Yes! Let's go." She ran her hand down Beca's shirt, grabbing a handful and pulling them from the bar.

Getting back through traffic was the worst yet. People were constantly shoving into them, trying to break them apart.

"This is fucking crazytown!" She shouted as a man pushed into her so hard that it was only Aubrey's secure hands that kept her upright.

"Hold on to me!" Chloe cried, pushing through the crowd.

"Bree, hold onto-" and then Beca's brain short circuited.

Aubrey, already a step ahead of her had reached forward and had hooked a hand fully into Beca's back pocket.

The odds were that Aubrey was just trying not to stretch her shirt, right? That seemed like an Aubrey thing to do. That seemed...she cleared her throat and glanced back at Aubrey.

That didn't help her case. Aubrey was behind her, eyes closed as she moved through the crowd, dancing with the music surrounding them in a way that made Beca's mouth go dry. Yup Aubrey was drunk.

She grinned, a little proudly and reached forward. She wasn't sure why she had done it, maybe it was just because Aubrey had done it to her but she moved her hand from Chloe's shirt, wanting to feel something in her hand and closed it on Chloe's waist.

Bright blue eyes flashed to her immediately, tossing a smirk over her shoulder as her free hand moved to Beca's, holding it there.

It felt like an eternity until the Quarter began to even out, the number of people thinning. Finally they turned off Bourbon and started down St. Philip, passing a loud brass band as they went.

Chloe laughed, her hips beginning to shake as she and Aubrey picked up the song, singing 'When the Saints' for the rest of the walk.

* * *

"Oh my god!" Chloe cried, falling onto her bed as Aubrey stumbled a little in place, trying to wrench off her heels. "Did you just take off your shoes?" Chloe gaped at Aubrey, seemingly unable to lift her head entirely. "I've never seen you do that before!"

"Dude, we got her drunk, high five!" Beca cried, reaching over far to high-five Aubrey - who did - and then Chloe. She missed Chloe entirely though and face planted on her bed beside her. "Ohmygod," she moaned, "your bed is so comfortable!"

"No!" Chloe climbed onto her back, tickling her ribs. "You can't go to sleep!"

"The fuck! Get - off - Awck!" Beca cried, tipping Chloe over and dumping her back on the bed while Aubrey laughed from her usual wooden chair, one leg thrown primly over the other. "Fine." She went to the kitchen, checking three times for bugs before she stepped in and grabbed the bottle and three glasses. "Whoa." She blinked, trying to adjust to the image before her.

Chloe had gone to the radio and turned it on to a lively NOLA Jazz station and she and Aubrey were dancing. They had done so much dancing that night but it still made Beca's brain stupid.

"Errr, drinks!"

"Yes, please." They both agreed, taking the shots that were handed to them before they all clinked glasses and took them.

Beca fell back onto the bed, crawling over it until she could lean against the wall. "You know what with this," Beca scowled, reaching over and clicking the radio over to a top 40 station. Which she shouldn't have done, clearly.

The girls cheered, happy for the change of pace but then they were dancing...really dancing...which was...hot...like...really hot.

She groaned and rubbed at her face.

God, she must be drunk because suddenly this was feeling like something more than friendship. She watched, transfixed as both women glanced over to her, their hands outstretched, their eyes dark as they called to her.

Beca shook her head, not sure that would be wise.

"Beca!" Aubrey called, her hips rolling against Chloe's.

Beca felt her cheeks flush.

"Okay fine." Chloe dive bombed the bed, pulling Aubrey along with her. "If you won't dance," she started, scooting in beside her while Aubrey scooted in on the other, "will you sing for us again?"

"What? No!" Beca cried, kicking off her shoes and glaring at Chloe who was leaning heavily into her. Aubrey tucked herself in, demure even in her drunkenness, and didn't seem to mind that doing so meant that her knee fell under Beca's.

"Oh come on! You did it before."

"It was beautiful, Beca."

Beca blinked at Aubrey. She was so close. They both were so close. Why did they keep – with the closeness -

Did they know that sitting on Chloe's bed like this was not a couch? It was not meant to be used this way! They needed to stop coming to the studio. There wasn't room for them. Not without being close.

"Please?"

Beca's head was swimming a little and Chloe leaned in a bit more. "Oh my goooooooood," she moaned, "I'm so drunk."

"Then you should sing." Aubrey grinned, her gray eyes flicking over Beca's face as she gave Beca's knee a little squeeze.

"But I'm - that's not – _why_?"

"Because we want to hear it! That's why!" Chloe grinned.

Beca let her head fall back against the wall, contemplating. She liked this. That was the thing, she liked how it felt to be squished in like this by these two. "I just don't get why."

"Because."

"Oh. Right." Beca nodded, as though that was an answer.

"Please! We'll give you a cookie."

"Mmm," Aubrey agreed, "and a glass of milk to go with it."

"Nope."

"We'll give you a pony."

"Oh yeah? You have a pony?"

"I do." Aubrey nodded.

"Of course you do!" Beca scoffed.

"Please?" Chloe's chin came to rest on her collarbone, her eyes burrowing into her.

It made Beca give a long, slow blink to clear her head. "Uh," she cleared her throat, "what do you want me to sing?"

"Anything."

"What do you like?"

"Errr, nothing? I don't," Beca groaned, "I dunno." The annoying thing was that she kind of wanted to do it for them. They both just seemed so happy at the idea.

Aubrey's hand gave her knee a little squeeze, and Beca frowned, confused because she couldn't remember when it had gotten there.

"Come on!"

She also had no idea when her hand had gotten into Chloe's. She studied it for a moment, contemplating. Chloe held their hand all of the time, but this was the first time that she had laced their fingers together, holding it like...like, she didn't know. But it was totally fine anyway because in her lap Aubrey and Chloe had their hands interlocked as well. Clearly, it was drunken cuddle time. Which was fine. That was totally a thing. No reason to feel - things.

"'Kay."

Chloe gave a happy little coo.

"But I don't know what to sing."

"Sing what you did before."

And so Beca did. Before she could let herself think she opened her mouth but instead of her earlier song, she found herself singing a song that she had composed a bit of, a one hit wonder that had played a few times on the local stations in The Bay Area.

Both Aubrey and Chloe fell quiet, their excited hands tightening on her as they settled in to watch.

Beca couldn't handle the attention. It was making her rarely used voice crack so she closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall and found that she wasn't as uncomfortable as she could have been. She had sung this song a million times, just because there were two beautiful women super close to her and staring didn't mean anything at all.

She sang the song with a surprising amount of confidence. Perhaps it was that she could feel how happy they were, perhaps it was that she could feel their chins on her shoulders, could feel them absorbing her from close range but when she finished she only kind of wanted to run and hide.

The two remained silent, so Beca finally wrenched one eye open, and then the other. She glanced at Chloe who was biting her lip, her face radiant, her eyes twinkling. She turned her head to glance at Aubrey, feeling her fingers digging harshly into her knee.

She had just a moment to feel startled, unsure about what was wrong when suddenly Aubrey sprang forward and caught her in a kiss.

She knew she let out some type of surprised noise, some sound of pleasure or _something_ but she couldn't register it. Her senses were exploding. She wanted to run, she wanted to crawl over her. It was just a soft, drunken kiss, nothing to write home about but every part of Beca was singing.

She knew she should be surprised, worried, or in some way upset. She _knew_ it. But that felt so far away. The tiny sober person in her was freaking out, but she couldn't seem to link herself to that.

And then she felt the soft brush of Aubrey's unfamiliar tongue across her lip and she didn't care anymore. Beca's lips parted with a speed that should have been embarrassing.

This time she did moan. It couldn't be helped as Aubrey slid along her tongue, dipping deeply into her mouth, and pulling Beca in a little closer to her, as if by magic, as her tongue swept back.

"Oh fuck." She muttered against her, but Aubrey just chuckled, her assault of Beca's lips picking up, pinning Beca to the wall. Beca was willing to let go entirely.

Somewhere in her brain she could feel a struggle in her lap, could feel that the room was too quiet. Another tug registered somewhere outside of herself and she realized that Chloe was trying to pull her hand free - from something oh, from Aubrey's. She should probably help with that. She should probably, only she couldn't because she was turning quickly from a solid being to a puddle right there on the bed. She gasped as Aubrey carefully changed the angle and began sucking on her lip.

Oh shit.

Oh fuck.

Was that her making that sound or -

"Hey!" Beca gave a guilty jump as Chloe's voice suddenly rang out. "If you're going to make out on my bed then the least you can do is let go of me!"

Beca turned, breaking away from the oh so unexpected kiss.

Chloe's cheeks were red, and her eyes were overly bright. She looked furious - and hurt – and a little like she might cry.

"Chl-" Beca started to speak but then her words were shut off in a clamp as Aubrey launched forward, pulling Chloe in so fast that Chloe let out a high squawk and then a gasp as she was roughly kissed.

"Wha-" Beca blinked, stunned and trying to process. She had just been kissing her...and now Aubrey was kissing _her_. Very close to her face. Beca watched, dumbfounded and fascinated, watching the way that their jaws moved, listening to the little sound that Chloe let out. She could feel both of their hands on her legs, using her to support them. She couldn't think. They were so close to her face.

That fucking closeness again.

Fury and jealousy ripped through her and she almost pushed through them, almost forced them to break apart so she could fucking leave.

Another little noise slipped from Chloe, and she felt Chloe's hand suddenly move, grasping for a moment before she found purchase on the soft part of Beca's thigh and purposefully squeezed.

Her breath caught, feeling her eyes rolling a bit as Chloe did something inside of Aubrey's mouth that made them both react.

She could feel the beat of her heart radiating through her body, pulling on her.

She wanted in.

So she leaned forward and before she thought rationally about this, she kissed Chloe's neck.

Chloe gasped, her free hand suddenly in Beca's hair and that was enough for Beca. Her mind was swimming, all she knew was that she wanted more. Desperately driven, Beca kissed the side of her neck once and then kissed it again, her tongue slipping out to taste her skin. Oh god, it tasted exactly like she would have thought. She licked her way up Chloe's neck, along her jaw, and over her cheek, thrilled when her lips were suddenly on Chloe's.

She heard another hiss, she heard slightly labored breathing but she couldn't register who's it was. All she knew was that she needed to lick further into Chloe's mouth and that Aubrey, who had found her throat and was sucking on it powerfully, needed to suck a little harder.

* * *

Please remember to review, guys!


	9. Chapter 9

Wow guys! Holy hell, the reactions to the last chapter were amazing! I can't believe it! Thank you! I'm so pleased that you guys liked it and I'm so amazed by the compliments you gave me! I'm so touched! Thank you! I hope you guys keep enjoying it! Publishing a book/working with an editor is grueling work and I've begun to think of myself as a complete shit writer, so hearing what you had to say really made my week! Thank you!  
Thank you to EVERYONE who has been reading, reviewing, passing this along! You guys are amazing!

For anyone who wants it! I put up a video of my favorite version of the song Beca sang in the last chapter. It's on my tumblr (ioliviajanae) under the 'Lagniappe BC' tag. Or at least it's supposed to be there. Side note, anyone know why sometimes posts don't show up under the tags?

* * *

 _ **Aubrey**_

* * *

The first thing Aubrey registered when she woke was that she was lying the wrong way on the bed; her feet tucked neatly under the pillows while her chin and arm hung over the edge of the opposite end.

She hissed a bit. Her head hurt. Oh god, why did her head hurt so badly? Why was she lying like this? Why was she lying like this when it was giving her a headache?

No. She shook her head a little, touching her dry lips and wincing when _all_ of that hurt. No; the headache came from the alcohol; she was positive about that. That's right, she had been drinking the night before. The headache came from the alcohol and the sugar in those Hurricanes...and the shots...and whatever else she had put into her body.

She moaned into the comforter below her, letting her head fall to the side, away from the blinding light of the window. What had she been _thinking?_ She was too old to drink like this. Her body couldn't handle it. _She_ couldn't handle it. Above all else, drinking to the point of a hangover was not acceptable behavior. She wasn't a young college girl anymore. There was a line between appropriate and inappropriate, of which she needed to be more mindful - or else.

Even if she had enjoyed the night very much.

She opened her eyes a smidge, hoping that would help the spinning her head had just started to do. Instead she stared down at her hand...her hand which was lying against Beca's stomach, under her shirt and just shy of her bra.

A sudden pang of panic made her freeze, trying to understand why she had slept with her hand under Beca's shirt...Beca, who was asleep...on the floor...beside Chloe's bed.

She was at Chloe's studio?

Why was she -

She heard a little sleepy moan from beside her and her head whipped around to find that Chloe was curled up against her side, her arms around her, and still deeply asleep.

What in the holy hell had happened?

What in the –

She remembered those strange positions first. She remembered hanging her head over the edge and talking to Beca, Chloe tightly cuddled in beside her. They had been talking to Beca like that because - the three of them had tried to fit on the full-size mattress and had been completely unable. Beca had fallen. She had fallen because -

The memory came back to her fast and hard, like a speeding baseball to her already sore gut.

 _She remembered watching Beca and Chloe kiss._ She remembered watching them against the wall beside her, Beca over Chloe, in her lap. She remembered watching Chloe's fingers caressing Beca's side, down to her ass, up and over her breasts, and her throat.

Aubrey gasped, her heart breaking into a million small fragments as she stared down at Beca's sleeping face.

They had kissed the night before.

 _Beca and Chloe_ had kissed.

The three of them were never going to be the same now that Beca and Chloe had kissed. And she, Aubrey, she had missed her chance; her chance for what, she didn't know and with which, she didn't know but it was too late. She had missed it.

Of course, Aubrey hadn't expected anything else. _Of course._ Chloe and Beca were perfect for one another. Beca's generally laid back, 'take things as they come' slightly surly attitude was the perfect counterpoint to Chloe's radiant energy. She knew that, she -

And then she remembered the feeling of Chloe's lips - of Beca's - of how different they had been and yet how tantalizingly wonderful.

She remembered lying on her back across Chloe's bed, her long body comfortably stretched out as though she had ever right to be there. She remembered her breath that had been a little too fast, the way her body thrummed as she watched Beca hovering on her elbows over Chloe beside her. She had watched Beca try to climb from over Chloe to over her, kissing her way down one neck and shoulder only to kiss up the next. Beca had tried to find somewhere to place her knees on either side of her; she remembered the way that Beca had looked down at them, her eyes dark and promising things that Aubrey had wanted to know.

She also remembered Beca losing her footing and going tumbling to the floor, where she had stayed, grumbling and muttering while the other two turned over and teased her.

 _She had kissed them too._ Aubrey had kissed both of them.

She and Chloe had spent a while then trying to convince Beca to come back up to the bed. They had pouted. They had - they had spent a while wrapped around each other, their lips and tongues working feverishly, their hands only _semi_ -politely placed on the other.

Aubrey's cheeks burned as she remembered it.

Beca had refused to get up from the ground though, insisting there was more room down on the floor with her and therefore they should come to her.

They had been teasing her after that, right?

Cheeks still warm and stomach doing a very different kind of somersault now, she tried to remember. What had they been talking about? The swirling butterflies in her gut told her that whatever the topic had been, Aubrey had liked it.

 _'Why is no one kissing me?'_

 _'Oh my god, Bree, you're making me -'_

 _'Shut up, don't make fun of me.'_

 _'Come up and I so promise it will be worth it.'_

Her eyes popped wide as she remembered.

Who had brought it up first? She couldn't remember. She had no idea, but she remembered the three of them discussing it very seriously and at great length.

 _'There's nothing wrong with drunken sex between friends.'_

Her body, completely disobeying her mammoth hold on it, betrayed her and gave a long, lustful clench as she remembered Chloe's voice. Her mouth popped open in a tiny gasp of surprise. She could still hear Chloe's voice saying it.

And she had wanted it.

Oh god, they had nearly done it. As a matter of fact, had they not finally fallen asleep while discussing it, then she was sure they _would have_.

Oh god! Her free hand slapped over her mouth when she realized that she was sure the person to insist that going down to the floor might be 'worth it' had been her.

Humiliation ripped through her, making her snap her eyes closed to avoid a moan. Despite the fact that her eyes were squeezed closed she could feel them beginning to angrily prickle and sting.

She couldn't believe it!

She couldn't believe _herself_!

She had done some _things_ while drunk before but this!

She had just wanted to have some fun. She had just wanted to relax with her friends after a stressful day.

She - she - she, _ugh!_

She had promised herself that she would not do this again! She had promised herself that she would not do this with either of these two, no matter how attractive she found them, no matter how much they captivated her, stayed in her thoughts when she wasn't with them, no matter how many times she found herself staring at one of them and wondering how they would taste.

She had promised herself! She had given herself a rule! And she had broken it! She had failed the mission!

No, she had to be honest with herself; she had aborted the mission completely. She had aborted it when she, under the pretext of holding tight to Beca, had slipped her hand into Beca's back pocket.

She hadn't thought when she was doing it. She hadn't thought about what it meant or why.

 _No._

With the unforgiving harshness that only someone criticizing themselves could bring, she made the correction. That wasn't true. Perhaps in the first moments she hadn't thought about her actions but when she had let herself slide deeper into the pocket she had felt the thin line of Beca's underwear through her jeans and she _had_ thought about it; drunk or not, she had thought about it. She had known she was doing it and she had known that she had wanted to rip those jeans off of her. She had watched Beca's hand slide to Chloe's hip and Chloe's hand go to cover it and she had felt a surge of jealousy - and want - and she had thought about it. The moment that she had rolled over atop Beca, her lips on her throat, her hand cupping the underside of her breast, she had also thought about it. The moment that she had let Chloe push her backward into the pillows, propping herself over her, she had thought about it.

There would be no excuses here. She had thought about it.

And she had done it anyway.

Because it had been months since she had first met them and the want to see either of them, no, she had to be honest, both of them naked had only grown; her desire to walk through the park hand in hand, her want to touch and to know and to taste, it had grown.

It was horrible of her. It was slutty of her.

Desiring one friend was bad enough, but both…

Where was her discipline?

When a small angry sob slipped out of her, she knew she had to get up. She had to get out of there before anyone woke up.

They had almost had a threesome the night before.

She couldn't let that happen.

She couldn't _make_ that happen!

She liked these girls and despite her awkward, uptight self, they liked her too.

They were her friends.

When had she last had friends like these?

She couldn't ruin it like that, all for one night of enjoyment - or even a few weeks of dating one of them! Chloe...no Beca...no...ugh, she didn't _know_ , but if she were to lose the only two people who liked her, then it would be no one's fault but her own!

She looked back down at Beca again. She had been very careful not to move that hand as of yet, worried that she might wake her. In truth, its general stiffness had left it aching. Now she watched as very carefully, she pulled her hand away from Beca's warm skin. Beca took a deep breath, her head turning from one side to the other as the pressure was gone but she slept on.

One down and the second would not be easy. Chloe had _both arms_ around her waist, a leg around hers, her face buried tightly in Aubrey's ribs.

Aubrey rolled slowly backward, her heart hammering in her throat until Chloe's fingertips slipped away and she was free.

The sad fact was that this wasn't the first time she had slipped from a house without being noticed a morning after drinking. It was – it was her biggest vice, her biggest weakness – her want for – she glanced back at Chloe's sleeping face and killed the thought off before it could grow.

It seemed like forever before she was fully upright and then even longer before she had her shirt pulled back down and tucked neatly in.

She was wrinkled and her head throbbed, though, now that she was standing it didn't hurt as badly.

Mournfully, she glanced between the women again before she moved to cross the room, desperate for a drink of water before she went anywhere. The floor, old and worn, gave a long _'creeeeeeeeek'_ that made her stop, eyes closed again, teeth biting down on her lips. She listened but no one stirred so, deciding, screw it, she would stop at a Community for a cup of coffee and a big bottle of water, she hurried to grab her heels, unsure where her purse was.

Would they remember?

What would she possibly say to them when they next spoke? Should she instead allow the friendships to wane?

She felt dirty sneaking around before her friends woke up.

Still, the moment that she had everything in hand she darted, holding her breath as the floor let out a few more moans.

"Hey."

Aubrey stopped, her cheeks burning as she heard Beca's gravelly voice from the floor.

"Bree? What are you doing? Ow, everything hurts, why does everything hurt? Wait, why am I on the freaking floor?"

She thought fast. She could say she had gotten a call from work, her brother needed something, she had a meeting, she wasn't feeling well. They all passed through her mind in a second and yet, she knew she couldn't just _leave_ now. Instead she turned and gave her friend a big smile and set her things down again. "Hey! Good morning, sleepyhead! I thought you would never wake up."

Beca scowled, sitting up and stretching.

Her shirt, it seemed, was caught on the lacey trim of her bra because though she sat up, her shirt did not fall, giving Aubrey a clear view of her pale stomach.

Aubrey swallowed and sat down hard in one of the wooden chairs, her own stomach clenching as she kicked herself, scolding herself about her lack of control.

Beca groaned, letting out a loud squawk and her stomach muscles flexed as she deepened the stretch.

Aubrey's fist clenched in her lap as she looked pointedly at the pale green wall. She had been doing so well with this! Yes, it was true that she always felt a little bit like she couldn't be _herself_ with them, not while she had such a tight control on her responses, but she had been doing so well. It had simply been a small price to pay in order to be their friend.

Now what had she done?

"Ugh," Beca groaned, fixing her shirt and glancing at Aubrey, a scowl on her face as her lips smacked, unhappy with the taste in her mouth, "Do you want some water?"

It took Aubrey a second to respond, lost in her inner reprimands. "What? Oh! Yes, please."

From the bed the mop of red hair gave a high moan as Chloe curled up into a ball, hiding her face in her own arm. "'t's so briiight."

Beca laughed, handing Aubrey a glass of water, "That's because you're on the wrong side of your bed, Chloe. You're facing the window."

"What?" Chloe's head popped up, staring blankly at the foot of the bed for a second before, "Oh," and she groaned again, burrowing her face in and hiding from the window.

"How's your head?" Beca asked, trying to force a laugh and wincing like it hurt her own head.

Chloe just pulled herself up, rubbing half of her face and scowling, "G'morning, y'all."

It was so cute, so strangely appealing that, while Aubrey's chest hadn't unclenched from Beca's stomach show, it seized up again, grabbing her tightly and not letting go.

She looked away, her eyes going to the only place that wouldn't show her an attractive woman - the ceiling.

"You okay, Bree?" Chloe asked, her fingers running lightly across the length of Aubrey's shoulder, the back of her neck and over her other shoulder as she walked by.

Aubrey hadn't meant to jump to her feet in response; she didn't startle that easily. However, her lips pursed as she found herself suddenly there. "I am. I'm all right. Thank you."

Beca and Chloe were staring at her, eyes wide so Aubrey just sat again, pretending she hadn't done anything strange.

"I can't believe how much we had to drink last night!" Chloe moaned as, with one more concerned glance at Aubrey, she closed herself into the tiny bathroom.

"Bad decisions," Beca nodded and then winced. "We made bad decisions."

Aubrey whipped around in her seat, her mouth agape as she stared at Beca.

Beca didn't notice. She was too busy trying to rub the headache away. "I'm never drinking again. My head is killing me. God, so much. I drank so much."

Aubrey let out a high nervous laugh. "Yes, I think we did," she said over the cacophony of voices in her head, all yelling at her.

Beca drained the glass and let out another pitiful moan.

 _Aubrey!_ You _do not_ objectify your friends like you are doing!

With a snap, she closed her mouth and turned away.

This was why she had kept so much distance between them, literally and figuratively. She was raised to be a good person, a good Christian, a good woman, a good - she didn't know what else, but she knew she wasn't supposed to notice Beca's arms in her tank top, or her tattoos, or - when Chloe came back from the bathroom, how easily Chloe's hair would gather into her hands, or how long her neck was.

As she had learned over and over again, she was weak. At least she was weak when it came to this part of her character. It was pitiful. It was shameful!

If she would only just decide to move forward with _one_ of them, then she wouldn't need to feel so badly. At least she wouldn't feel badly about objectifying said woman. She _would_ feel badly, but for very different reasons.

"I'm proud of us!" Chloe grinned, taking Aubrey's unfinished glass of water, drinking it and then refilling it for her.

Aubrey looked at the glass now back in her hand, a bit scandalized and set it down on the counter, looking away from it resolutely when the idea of putting her lips where Chloe's had been sent a barrage of images and sensations through her mind. She could still feel Chloe's hand on her chin and jaw, she could feel the way that her thumb had passed over her lips, pulling the corner down before she replaced it with her own.

"I don't know," Beca groaned through a laugh, "I'm not sure I can say _proud_ exactly."

Aubrey gave another manic laugh, eyes in her lap; worried about what she might remember if she looked at Beca just then.

"Do you think Amy and Stacie went home with those guys?"

Beca frowned, pulling up the other chair and sitting beside her. "What?"

"The guys from the band." Chloe frowned, "They met us at the bar, right? Or wait, right?"

Beca's eyes narrowed, "I dunno. Oh god, I was so drunk that I can't remember."

A glimmer of hope crashed through Aubrey.

Maybe they _had_ been too drunk the night before to remember anything at all.

"I don't know," Chloe laughed, shaking her head. "I feel like my brain needs a vacation after the way it was abused last night."

"Yes," Aubrey added, "I can't remember much either." She glanced between her friends and saw matching thoughtful expressions but nothing suspicious.

Could they really not remember or was it that no one wanted to be the first to admit that they did indeed?

The silence wasn't long, nor was it uncomfortable and surely if they remembered, then it would be uncomfortable, correct?

"I need something greasy," Chloe announced somewhat randomly. "You guys wanna go for breakfast?"

"Coffee," was all Beca said in response.

It had to be that Aubrey was the only one to remember. That had to be it! They seemed like they always did. Aubrey stared at them without blinking, baffled.

"Yes! There's this place a few blocks away," Chloe beamed. "We might have to wait for a bit but it's so worth it."

"I'm down." Beca nodded, "Bree?"

"What? Oh! Yes."

They both gave her the same concerned smile so, to avoid them, she rose and reached for her shoes again.

Surely they would not want to go for breakfast if _either_ remembered the things that she remembered. Or perhaps this was one of those moments. Was this one of those times where things were fine but Aubrey, being herself, read too much into it, overthought it, and made it far too complicated?

She didn't know.

The simplest answer, she decided as the other two got ready to leave, was that they were too drunk to remember. Of course they were! Who did a thing like that when sober?

* * *

Everything was filled with hidden meaning for Aubrey after that. When they walked down the street together and Chloe _didn't_ take either of their arms, Aubrey was sure it was because she remembered. Then when she did take, not one but both, hers and Beca's arm, Aubrey was sure she wasn't holding as tightly as usual for the same reason. When a man catcalled the three of them and Beca blushed, Aubrey decided the look she gave both of them was one that searched their face for any hint of memory.

It was driving her crazy.

The Quarter in the morning was gross. It looked a lot like a hangover felt; sick and swirling and disgusting. It smelled bad, like urine, vomit and sweat; and there were constant puddles they had to step over. The dark and looming buildings, all pressed in on one another felt fitting at night but in the morning it made everything grungy and dingy, like the whole place just needed a bath before it could reset from the frivolities of the night before. As they walked a man gave them a toothless grin, the garbage can he was peeing behind barely enough to cover the parts of him he had exposed. A few doors down, a young frat boy was asleep in a shop doorway, his shirt drenched with something that made Aubrey look away before she could properly identify it.

The Quarter wasn't helping her stomach.

Her nerves weren't helping her stomach either.

And yet, breakfast was fine.

Beca and Chloe laughed with her, just like always. They both sat close in the booth, something Aubrey had noticed them doing more and more over the last weeks as their friendship grew comfortable.

She spent the entirety of the meal glancing between them, trying to decipher if they were pretending like she was, but if they were then it wasn't noticeable.

By the time they all were full Aubrey couldn't take it anymore.

She made an excuse and, nerves in a tight ball, she headed off in the direction of the lot where she had parked her car the night before.

As it turned out, she didn't feel better once in her own space either. Her home felt too large; there was too much room for her to fill with her thoughts. She stepped inside the door and instantly her eyes were drawn to the stray piece of paper and the mug that she had left on the coffee table of her formal living room.

Perhaps she really was wound too tightly because seeing that there sent an uncomfortable dissatisfaction through her backbone, agitating her far more than was reasonable. _Why_ had she left it there? It was not as though picking up after herself was hard.

She dropped her purse just inside the door and scooped up the cup and the paper, moving with purpose in a straight line from the formal living room, through the dining room and into the kitchen. She deposited the cup in the sink and then kept going, through the kitchen, into the den and back to the very last room, her bedroom.

She took one look around and the anxiety in her chest rose. Her bed was uncharacteristically messy - there was a very expensive pair of heels placed neatly on the floor by the bed - she was sure that her closet was not in order.

This would not - could not do!

She cleaned her home from top to bottom, scrubbing everything down twice, mopping, beating out her carpets, rearranging her closets and cupboards.

She was worried.

No, in truth, she was far more worried than just _worried_.

She was… her stomach had been rolling and rippling nonstop since she woke and that unhappy feeling only seemed to be growing as she imagined, remembered, and stressed.

She was not going to have an ' _episode_ '. She was _sure_ of that. She refused. She had already given up control once in the last twenty-four hours; she would not do it again.

 _She would not!_

They would tell her if they remembered, right? They wouldn't just pretend it had never happened. They were friends and friends didn't do things like that. My god, how could she have been so foolish? How could she have given into her - interests - so easily? What if they _did_ remember and they just hadn't - _enjoyed themselves_? Or, worse, what if they did remember but they didn't want her to be involved? What if after breakfast Beca hadn't gone home like she said she was going to, but had instead gone back to Chloe's studio to pick up where they had left off the night before? What if at this exact moment they were together and naked in Chloe's bed? What if they had lied just to 'be kind'? What if she never heard from them again because of this? What if she had been a bad kisser? Or if, she had gone too far by touching Chloe's breasts through her shirt? Chloe, she cleared her throat and forcefully pushed the mop a little harder as her stomach gave a sickening lurch, Chloe hadn't seemed upset when she had done it - neither had Beca as her hands slid over her backside through her jeans - and they had been lightly touching one another too but what if _she_ , Aubrey, had made a mistake? What if she hadn't been welcome?

She didn't want to have an 'episode'; but as her stomach began to boil she wasn't so sure that she had control over that either. Especially when she heard a loud hammering at her front door and _knew_ who it was. She didn't think she could handle Chad that morning. She was hungover. She was stressed. She was - she was so - she pressed her lips into a thin line when she realized she didn't have a word for what she was. She could just ignore her brother but if he really wanted in then he would just use the key that she hated he had.

Her mind still swirling, she decided to go with the ignoring option and sure enough a few minutes later she heard the door rattle and Chad let himself in.

"You know, you're supposed to _answer_ the door when someone knocks at it."

She just gave a dismissive nod and a, "Mmm," her lips still pressed tightly together as she fought to calm her thoughts so her stomach would feel less like a roller coaster ride. She gathered the books that were stacked perfectly on her coffee table in her den and wiped the table down for the second time, her movements jerky.

"What the fuck is wrong with you right now?" Chad asked, his eyebrows high, his voice incredulous.

"What?" She straightened, shoving the hair that had fallen from her bun out of her face with her whole hand.

"You look all," he shook his hand at her, a look of distaste on his face, "twitchy. Too much coffee."

She just stared at him, debating telling him. She was _sure_ that while Chad liked to boast about all of his sexual conquests, he was in fact a virgin and she had almost been with _two_ women the night before. It would be a stunning victory to see the look on his face, but, she deflated, she couldn't actually do that. Aubrey didn't answer. Instead she left the room to straighten a non-existent crease from her comforter.

"You look like you did when dad gave me the business. What's wrong?"

"He did not-" but she stopped because that memory, one of the worst days in her life, was not going to help her stomach. It gurgled as her mind swirled.

"Or like, in high school when Wolfer was getting that emergency surgery because you hit him with dad's car. You're kinda-"

But Aubrey was shoving by him, her hand tightly over her mouth until she got to her bathroom where she was violently sick.

"Whoooooooaaa!" Chad cried. No matter how many times her idiot brother had seen her stress vomit, he always acted like it was the first.

"Chad!" Aubrey shouted when her brother pushed the bathroom door open, making it smack into the wall.

" _Bumper!_ And yeeeah, you're a little too good on your knees like that, Pukey-Bree. I don't - I don't wanna think about that."

She wanted to scream at him, to push the door closed again but at the moment she was at the burning mercy of her stomach. She knew this wouldn't stop until she was empty so she waited, tears of discomfort and anger pouring down her face.

"God, you're so gross!" Chad bellowed after Aubrey's third evacuative heave. "You're so - ugh, why do I have to be related to you? I was going to take you to the Fisher house but fuck it. You don't get to go now!" He turned and started back toward the front door, "Call me when you're through with the Bulimic convention."

Furious by the absolute horribleness of the joke, Aubrey shouted after him but it was pointless; her front door clicked closed a second later.

The next day was Sunday; usually Aubrey's favorite day. She liked work and she did it a lot more than she probably should, but Sundays were her sacred day. She spent them going to farmer's markets, sipping coffee, reading the paper, learning new recipes, or going for long runs through Audubon Park. In short, Sundays were the one full day she gave herself off a week and she relished them.

This Sunday, however, she did not. She rose early from a stress filled sleep, frustrated with herself that she was still thinking about this. She spent an hour making herself a large breakfast from her organic CSA eggs and vegetables, things she had been saving all week for this very morning, only to discover that once the food had been made, she didn't want it. Unable to sit still, and unable to find more to clean, she pulled on her running clothes and drove to Audubon park. Normally she loved the park, she loved watching the children play as she ran, she loved the birds and the couples going on walks. She was particularly fond of the trees and their mossy finishes, the way they shaded certain parts of the path. She ran the three-mile loop in half her normal time and stopped by the water where she normally liked to sit and watch the turtles sunbathe.

She felt worse. Usually she ran the loop twice on an enjoyable Sunday morning but the moment she stopped moving she knew she wanted to go into work.

Work would calm her stomach.

Work would distract her mind.

It turned out going into work was a good idea. A client had recently specifically asked for a semi-transparent slate blue finish on their banister, something that Aubrey had been loath to allow since it technically was not time period correct. She had given in finally when the client had teased her for losing her NOLA spirit and it had been done. It turned out that though she had explained repeatedly to the client that 'slate blue' was _blue_ , he had taken one look at the finished product and had filed a complaint. _'I thought it was more of a black.'_

The ridiculous fight was the perfect way to get her mind off of - other things.

Not that she was very successful, especially because she was beginning to wonder - had she just made the whole thing up? What if she had simply fallen asleep and had a vivid dream - or - something. She didn't know if it was practical to think she might have made it up, it probably wasn't, still she couldn't help the ridiculing voice in her mind, that sounded like her brother, saying it had all been a dream and she was a pervert.

The day was so stressful that she had come home, taken a long bath and then gone to bed very early.

By the following Friday night Aubrey's stomach had finally settled - only stirring when she actively thought of the weekend before, which she tried not to do. She had heard from Beca and Chloe steadily over the week, just like always. As a matter of fact, nothing about their behavior had been strange or unusual. They had teased and laughed, complaining about their hangovers and openly worrying when they did not disappear by the next day.

"I guess this is a sign that we really are getting older, isn't it? Crap," Beca had said Monday night when she still felt sick.

Aubrey was beginning to really believe that they truly just didn't remember what had happened between the three of them, and she was sure that was a blessing in disguise. If they spoke about it, if they brought it up at all then surely Aubrey would have to admit that she had...enjoyed it...that twice in the week she had found herself thinking of it before bed, her fingers itching to stroke herself.

She was beginning to wonder if perhaps she needed to find someone to steadily date, someone kind and sweet and funny; someone charming and yet attentive - and attractive.

She was almost positive that she was reacting to this situation with this much gusto because she had not dated anyone since Dolton and before him...she couldn't remember, but it had been a while since another man.

Of course, a silent voice in the back of her mind constantly reminded her that finding another man would probably not help; there was another choice, that perhaps she could date a woman - something she hadn't done since college.

She always pushed that thought aside and instead just worried about the weekend before.

When that Friday came and went with nothing from Beca and Chloe, Aubrey's internal alarms went off. Was this proof? Did they remember? Did they simply not want to see her? Were they avoiding one another too? Was anyone, in reality, avoiding anyone or was she just paranoid?

She didn't know and even more baffling was the fact that she had to admit when she did hear from them everything _sounded_ normal.

Her phone rang as she was sitting behind her desk late the next afternoon, finishing up the last bit of paperwork. Surprised to see Beca's number popping up, she answered and was immediately hit with a wave of noise. "Wow!" She cried, pulling the phone from her ear, clicking speakerphone and set it on her desk.

"Sorry!" Beca cried into the phone. "Is it loud? It's like freakishly loud here!"

"HI, BREE!" Chloe all but shouted as well.

"Hey guys, are you," she frowned down at her paperwork, "are you together or -"

"Yeah!" Beca shouted as the babble of people seemed to grow louder.

They were together? Her heart gave an insistent ache, so this was her answer then. They did remember, but she had been right, they just didn't want her involved. Her stomach started to gurgle as she remembered the weekend before, their faces, their sounds, _her own_. Shit! She closed her eyes, her lips pressed together. She could not vomit at work. She could only imagine what that would bring. Chad would probably tell everyone that she was pregnant or something.

Besides, she reminded herself, before you moved to Louisiana you had this _under control_. You are _not_ at the mercy of your stomach! You are not!

"I had to come down to the Quarter for work so I thought I would stop in."

"We miss you, Bree!" Chloe chimed in and then let out a laugh that sounded like Beca had just cupped a hand over her mouth to stop her from interrupting.

"How are you?' Beca asked, her voice sounding much closer to the phone and a little concerned, "I feel like, I don't know, like we haven't really heard from you."

"What?" Aubrey laughed, shuffling the papers on her desk just so she could straighten them again. "Of course I'm doing well. I'm - I'm fine!" She frowned at herself and hurried on. "How are you? You two?"

"We're -" but then Aubrey could hear the hostile takeover of Beca's phone.

"Bree!" Chloe chimed and Aubrey could hear that happy smile in her voice.

"Dude, at least put her on speakerphone!" Beca said in the background. "Thanks," Beca dryly said a minute later, her voice audible as well.

"What are you doing tonight?"

A little overly hopeful Aubrey cleared her throat, "Nothing. I don't think, anyway."

"Come out with us!"

"Oh!" Aubrey smiled to herself, pleased. "Alright. What are we doing?"

"Can we go see a movie?" Chloe asked both of them and immediately Beca started to groan. "Oh my god, please!" Chloe cried so fast that it was like she had been expecting Beca's answer.

They had been through this before. In many ways, the three of them were complete opposites, which meant that they paired together well but also meant that sometimes they did not mesh. As it had turned out, Chloe was a sucker for movies and Beca...was not.

"Please! Come on! We never do and I love it and the new Cate Blanchett is supposed to be so good!"

"Okay but here's the thing, if you're going to make me go, then can we at least see a slasher or something?" Chloe's face must have held some open distaste because Beca let out a laugh, "Oh come on, movies are so predictably boring. At least with a slasher you get a good laugh and some special effects. It's _October_!"

"Okay fine. Bree?"

In truth, a movie sounded nice. Sitting side by side in a dark theater, not talking and snacking on popcorn would be relaxing and she needed relaxing.

"I'm okay with a movie - but not a slasher."

"Damn it!" Beca cried. "Fine. Ugh, you guys suck!"

"I mean, Bec, Bree and I can go see a movie and -"

"No, no!" Beca cried quickly, "I'll go." And both Aubrey and Chloe had to laugh at that.

They decided to meet a few hours later out front of the theater for a late evening showing.

Aubrey knew she could have gone home and changed and redone her hair and her makeup but she didn't want to give into that. If she did, she thought that she would spiral out of control. So instead she stayed at work until she knew she would be five minutes late, something she _never_ did and then sped there, regretting her choice the entire way. She parked and though she did stay for another minute, checking her hair and makeup in the mirror, she applauded herself at her reserve.

"Hey!"

Chloe had seen her first. Or least she had to assume it was Chloe since she had been looking down at her phone when someone had pounced on her, hugging her and getting so much hair in her eyes that she couldn't see.

"Wow! Um, hi - hi Chloe!"

"Hi," Chloe beamed and kissed her on the cheek.

Beca was a few feet back, her hands in her pockets and laughing fondly at them. For a moment Aubrey thought Beca was going to step forward for a hug and the thought made Aubrey's chest warm but then, instead, she gave the usual nod and Aubrey smiled back at her, pleased to see her and wishing she could touch her in some way. She had touched her so much the weekend before, she had felt her body – their bodies – pressed against her. Chloe's need for physicality satisfied a cooling burn in Aubrey that she refused to acknowledge but now, she wanted to reach for Beca. Chloe still had her arms draped around Aubrey's waist; would it be so weird to hug her too?

She wasn't sure so she just let it slide as Chloe threw her arm around Beca was well.

"We ready?"

"I guess so." Beca moaned, grinning in a way that let Aubrey know she was doing it for Chloe's benefit.

"Oh my god," Chloe laughed and gave Beca a shove toward the door, "Get in there!"

"Whaaaa!" Beca cried, stumbling. "The hell - back - off!"

Either way, Chloe won and they stepped into the theater.

"Dude, I'm not sure I'm over it," Beca admitted as they stepped into the darkened theater that Aubrey was pleased to see was mostly empty. "Is that weird or like, a bad sign or anything? It's been over a week and I still feel hungover. Like, just a little, but still?"

Aubrey laughed, taking the seat between them, "I think it's a sign that we are getting old."

"I dunno," Beca shook her head, sipping her fluorescent Slurpee, "I used to be able to drink all night, rally for an hour and do it all over again. Chlo, what about you?"

Chloe gave a somewhat guilty noncommittal shrug, "I had a rough day but then I was alright."

"Yeah," Beca nodded through a yawn, "that sounds like you."

"Mostly I've just been tired because of _work._ "

"Work?" Aubrey asked, shifting because Chloe felt too close somehow.

"Yeah," she tossed her feet up on the chair in front of her and flipped her hair over the back. "Halloween. I mean, I _love_ Halloween but the tours get out of control! There are just so many and people drink a lot more!"

"Mmm," Beca nodded, her head back against the seat and her eyes closed, "same for me. It's been totally freaking crazy."

"Are you doing Krewe of Boo?" Chloe asked, leaning around Aubrey.

"Yeah. Which is fun, but also kind of really not easy."

"Krewe of what?"

Beca sighed, "It's the krewe that does the Halloween parade. I mean, it looks like it's going to be really freaking cool, but it's so much and so big!"

"Are they doing Countess Vampira again?"

Aubrey watched the corner of Beca's lip tilt up, clearly pleased that Chloe sounded so excited. "Can't say."

"Ugh, fine. Aubrey, what have you been up to?"

Aubrey's teeth gently bit at the inside of her cheek. What had she been up to? She had spent the past week completely reorganizing her life. The office had been given a makeover, much to Chad's annoyance, as had her apartment. She had gone through old files of her grandmother's and had organized them. She had been going nonstop. "Oh, nothing much. It turns out the office needed a good cleaning and reorganizing so I've been doing that." She gave a casual little laugh. "It's kept me busy."

The pre-movie ads crawled to an end then and Aubrey settled in, one leg crossing over the other as she got comfortable. She wanted to copy the other two and toss her legs over the chair in front of her, almost did but stopped herself at the last second, suddenly feeling inexplicably uneasy. She uncrossed her legs and then crossed them again, clearing her throat as the other two settled in beside her.

She hadn't thought twice about sitting between them and yet, now, she felt so confined. She couldn't relax. She _shouldn't_ relax.

She cleared her throat again, giving Beca a quick smile when she looked up at her, inquisitive.

The theater lights went out and hidden in the darkness that way, the rock-hard muscles in her back began to slowly uncurl. She watched the previews and as she did she began to roll her eyes at herself. This was Beca and Chloe. She was comfortable with them, or at least as comfortable as she could be. She just needed to relax.

It took a while but eventually she was able to, losing herself in the giant screen in front of her.

As a matter of fact, she grew so comfortable that forty-five minutes later when Beca's head slid to her shoulder, Aubrey wasn't even upset or worried. She felt Beca yawn into her arm, clearly not fully awake and then drift off.

Well. She had warned them that she wasn't a big fan of movies and that she often found them boring.

She couldn't understand her dislike for them; the couple on screen were frustrating and _wonderful_ in their obvious and yet completely unacknowledged love for one another. They were adorable!

A small snore came from the woman next to her and Aubrey bit her lip to hold back a laugh.

A few minutes later and Aubrey's smile was making her cheeks hurt. Beca was snoring softly but steadily now while Chloe, all-teary-blue eyed was sighing and holding her chest beside her.

 _"I don't understand! Why can't you see that you love me? We were made for one another!"_ The man on the screen shouted, throwing his coffee cup so it shattered.

Beca gave a start, letting out a tiny and far too cute grunt and then nuzzled in closer, wrapping both arms around Aubrey's one.

Aubrey chuckled, grinning fondly at her sleeping friend. Her often blank and dry face looked so sweet this way, comfortable in sleep. The poor thing, she had been stressed about work since she moved here. No wonder she was tired.

Someone in the audience coughed and Aubrey jumped, realizing that she had been staring. How long had she been staring? Eyes wide she turned them back to the screen without really seeing it. She had no idea what was going on in the scene.

She shifted a little closer, careful not to disturb Beca.

Her chest was too warm, too light, too comfortable. She could feel an overwhelming desire to move the seat divider and wrap her arm around Beca, to pull her close and let her sleep.

...What was she _doing_?

Last week she was feeling...sexual...things and now…

She couldn't feel that! She couldn't feel that for one of her friends!

Oh boy. Oh god.

Oh _shit._

The music swelled as finally the stupid stubborn couple on the screen gave in, diving into a kiss that was long overdue.

Beside her Chloe gave a little happy squeal; she couldn't contain her pleasure anymore, her fist coming up and shaking. She needed to share it. She scooted in close, her head resting on Aubrey's other shoulder and gave a contented sigh, the fingers of both of her hands intertwining with Aubrey's one.

She couldn't think.

Chloe always held her hand.

It didn't matter.

Chloe just loved to touch and be touched.

Oh no.

She wished she hadn't thought that. The words sent memories rocking through her stomach, memories of her own fingers tracing the curve of Chloe's body.

She stared at the screen, fighting those thoughts off.

Chloe gave another happy sigh and Aubrey…

She didn't know. She wasn't thinking clearly, obviously.

She didn't feel this way for _both_ of them, for either of them! That wasn't possible!

God, she was a terrible friend!

And yet, even with that thought she just wanted to wrap them both up into herself. She wanted to hold them both close.

She was misreading it. Chloe _was_ very affectionate. Maybe that was simply bringing out the want for physical affection in her as well. Maybe it wasn't...wasn't… _romantic._

That had to be correct. It wasn't possible to romantically want two people at once. That wasn't how the brain worked. So she must be -

Chloe shifted, scooting in so she was flush against Aubrey and whispered, ever so lightly, ever so breathy in her ear, "Is she asleep?"

Okay, she _wanted_ them. She had wanted both of them since she had met them and saying otherwise would be lying. She had to choose, right? How could she do that when sitting beside both of them felt so different and so good? How could she -

Had Chloe noticed the way that Aubrey had just shivered?

What was she going to do about this?

She had to do something.

Right?

She couldn't look at Chloe so instead, eyes straight ahead she just nodded.

Chloe giggled, still far too close to her ear and leaned around her, giving a small, "awe," when she took her in.

Aubrey's heart was hammering, half from the little butterfly wings that were suddenly working their way through her whole body and half because of the absolute panic she was feeling.

This could _not_ be right.

Aubrey couldn't say how long it took for the movie to end. She didn't move. She barely blinked. She just stared at the moving pictures on the screen, internally terrorizing herself because she didn't _want_ to move. She didn't want to do anything that would change what was happening in that moment. She wasn't a cuddler.  
No, that wasn't true, she didn't often have anyone to cuddle with and that had broken her of the habit. Either way, she didn't find herself in this situation very often and it felt too good to waste.

So yes, she was thinking things that they most certainly were not. She was envisioning many a scene involving lips and fingers and tongues.

But this was nice.

In a panic-stricken sort of way.

 _No, Aubrey!_ This is bad, she aggressively reminded herself.

Right. This was bad.

The lights came up as the credits began to roll and Chloe let out a reluctant sigh, uncurling herself from Aubrey's arm.

"That was so good!"

Aubrey nodded, not wanting to admit she had missed half of it.

"Hey," Chloe leaned over Aubrey, gently touching Beca's arm.

Everything in Aubrey froze, her eyes popping wide, her breath halting painfully in her chest as Chloe leaned in so close.

"Beca." Chloe gave her a little shake, her face turning a little to give Aubrey a sweet - but somewhat blank smile.

All Aubrey could see was its blankness, the fact that Chloe was a breath from her face and yet, she seemed to feel nothing about that.

It was, her heart gave a pathetic yowl, stinging in her chest. It was heartbreaking.

Beca groaned, sitting up and looking around. "Crap, did I fall asleep?"

Chloe giggled, sitting back and gathering her things, "You snore."

"What? Shut up, no I don't!"

"You do! Right, Bree?"

Aubrey jumped like she had been goosed when Chloe gave her a small elbow nudge, "What? Oh. Yes. Right. You do, actually, Beca."

"You guys suck. Remind me why I hang out with you again?"

Chloe gave some catty reply but Aubrey couldn't focus on it.

They exited the theater silently, the late hour starting to pull on all of them, or at least that was what Aubrey assumed as both Beca and Chloe dragged their feet toward the exit.

"So," Chloe asked as they stepped out into the cool night air.

"So?" Aubrey blinked.

"So, it's late. Should we…"

Beca yawned, "I dunno, guys, I think I had better head home. This week is going to be fucking crazy."

"Same." Chloe sighed.

Aubrey had to admit that she was ready to go home as well. She had such a strange mix of feelings and she just wanted to go home, take a bath, a sleeping pill, and knock out.

She didn't understand what was happening to her, or with her. She didn't understand who she was in this moment.

She hugged both of them, only growing more confused when she could have sworn that each hug was different than it had been, lingering somehow.

She was making these things up, she knew that but she couldn't figure out _why!_

She started toward her car, not minding that Beca walked with her across the lot.

"You okay, Aubrey?"

"What? Yes! Of course! I'm - I'm tired."

"Yeah. Me too." But Beca was looking at her like maybe she didn't fully believe her. "Are you sure? 'Cause you kind of look a little, I don't know," Beca laughed, her face playful as she turned to walk backward and get a better view of her, "let's say keyed up." Aubrey wanted to ignore the commentary but Beca's eyes were twinkling at her in a way that she couldn't ignore. "And I mean," Beca continued, her voice light and teasing, "you look that way a lot and everything," Aubrey rolled her eyes and gave her a little shove, "but this looks different."

With a laugh, Aubrey nodded, "I'm all right, thanks."

"Okay." Beca pushed her hands into her pockets, watching her from the corner of her eye, "I uh, this week is going to be really busy but maybe next weekend we should do something that you want to do. All of us, I mean. Maybe we can finally head out to Oak Alley and do a plantation tour. We've been meaning to, so we should probably get on that."

"Oh." Aubrey gave a nod, "That would be - I would like that."

"Okay," Beca grinned at her, "I'll see you later." Beca gave her arm a squeeze and then broke off toward her car.

Aubrey was a little dazed as she drove home, her stomach broiling as she worried.

She didn't know what to do with this. She didn't know of there was anything to do with this.

Unlocking her front door she was already groaning, excited about taking off her heels and letting down her hair when her phone went off.

She ignored it for a moment, assuming it was the usual 'did you get home alright' text. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her hair down from its knot, scratching her fingers through it, loving the way her fingers felt on her scalp.

She poured herself a glass of water and stood at the sink, drinking it as she finally pulled out her phone to answer.

The text was indeed from Chloe sent to both herself and Beca.

11:17 P.M. - Chloe:

"Okay. Am I really the only one who remembers?"

The cup of water fell from Aubrey's hand.

* * *

Author's Note of great importance:  
Just an FYI y'all. Jokes about eating disorders are NOT cool. People make jokes, yes, but it's not so totally funny. But writers are not their characters and Bumper is an asshole and the WORST kind of person, this being highlighted by the asshole thing he said to Aubrey. But in a nutshell, don't do it. You don't know the struggle people afflicted with this actually go through.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chloe_**

* * *

Chloe hadn't known that ten days could feel quite as long as they had. It had been like living through ten days of sitting in the doctor's waiting room or at the DMV. Still, despite the annoyingly long wait and the time that had passed, the thought of that text and that conversation still sent a shiver of delighted nerves through her stomach.

Ten days!

Ten days and they were _finally_ going to talk about it tonight!

Finally!

Chloe hadn't been sure how they would take her text when she sent it. She had been trying for a week to guess if they really didn't remember or if they were doing the same thing that she was, waiting to see if someone else would be the one to admit that they remembered that amazing and so, so, _so_ hot night.

Finally, after the movie she hadn't been able to take it anymore. She had watched Beca and Aubrey start off into the parking lot, both moving so stiff and awkwardly together for people who called themselves friends, for people who had kissed so zealously. She had watched as Beca turned to tease Aubrey about something; Chloe had been sure of it by the suddenly jaunty shrug of her shoulders and how Aubrey's head had given a shake of laughter. She had watched Beca smirk, saying something that Chloe had to assume was funny and charming and she watched as Aubrey, in response, gave her a little shove. She had been able to see their friendship in that moment, she had been able to see an unexplored chemistry between them. Watching that, she had been hit with a flashback so hard that it had completely taken her breath away. That had been happening constantly for a week now. It was like shock wave make out flashbacks. That time, though, it had almost scared her with its intensity; with how strong of a pull she felt in her lower belly; how dizzy it had made her.

She had been _able to feel_ Beca's breath against her ear again, she had been able to hear the way that Aubrey's soft chuckle had caught when Chloe had let out a sound of satisfaction. She had been able, in that moment, to feel the press of Beca's body against her own, to feel her index and middle finger teasingly walking up her thigh before smoothing out to firmly but gently hold her to her. She had been able to feel both of them pressed into either side of her, one sucking lightly on her earlobe while the other had carefully nibbled on her collarbone.

All she had wanted to do while she was standing there in the parking lot was surrender to the memories. She had wanted to give in so badly that she had almost chased them down, jumped on them, covered their faces in kisses and _made_ them remember.

The fight to restrain herself had been hard. She didn't often make herself do that. She believed fully in giving in to one's impulses, assuming it wouldn't hurt anyone else to do it. She rarely censored herself in anything. Therefore, her skill at making herself stop had been pretty sad and weak. She had to force herself to turn and begin the short walk back to the Quarter.

The problem was that she had been a messy drunk that night because that wasn't something people did otherwise, right? Making out with one friend was one thing; that happened all of the time, but two…and at the same time…that had been new, even for her.

She hadn't even known…not until she had sat there watching Aubrey and Beca kiss, she hadn't known she had feelings for them.

But now…

And that was so confusing.

By the time she had arrived home her restraint had been completely gone and so, she had sent that text, her back pressed against the downstairs door of her studio and then, the side of her lip between her teeth, she had held the phone to her chest for a second and let out a squeal of both excitement and nerves.

She had wanted them to come back so badly right then. She hadn't wanted to wait. She had wanted to see their faces again at that exact moment but it had been late and all of them really did have crazy schedules for the next few days.

So she had been forced to be patient...and the wait hadn't exactly been dull. It had been fraught with excited tension that made her heart hammer every time the group text sound went off and so many tours that she couldn't see straight. She didn't usually do four tours in a day; doing tours was supposed to be fun, but each company had been so busy that she had been offering as much time as she could. The city was overrun with tourists, all wanting to be scared before Halloween came, all wanting to experience something 'different'. Chloe had been so busy, in fact, that she was beginning to wonder if maybe she needed to lay off the tours altogether. They were never supposed to become a main part of her salary and yet she had been doing them more and more. Her feet hurt all of the time right now from her constant running around in the Quarter, she had been thrown up on _twice_ over the last weekend alone, she had been asked out three times and this wasn't even supposed to be her full-time job!

She had also spent the previous Monday showing a man around the Quarter for five hours, thinking he was a professor at N.Y.U. only to discover that he was pretending. That wouldn't have been such a big deal, really; showing professors and the likes around and answering their questions _was_ her job. Except she had been exhausted before she had begun and the discovery that he had 'just thought she was hot' had made her break down into tears…which had effectively scared him off.

She loved the atmosphere of the French Quarter, she loved her job, she loved the lively energy of people all there to admire, celebrate and have a good time. She didn't even mind that most of the people there were much younger than her, but this season it was also wearing on her.

She was so thankful the ten-day wait was over because all of that might not have been so bad if half of her mind hadn't constantly been on her two best friends, missing them and wondering about this talk they were going to have.

It was a little stressful in truth.

She kept trying to picture it, kept trying to imagine what it would look like but she couldn't. When she pictured walking away from the talk with a date, she worried because she couldn't decide who that would be with. When she pictured someone saying screw the talk...like she wanted them to...and sweeping the table clean in order to throw her down on it, she was always painfully aroused and excited - and absolutely baffled because… _which one of them?_

She had never wondered that before. She had never been torn between two people before and it was scaring her.

She didn't know. Sometimes she thought that Beca was her obvious choice. It was easy between them. They paired together so well and she adored Beca. She was sexy. She was serious. She was funny. She clearly had no problem committing to things that she loved, she was talented and passionate. They both loved music and, despite what Beca said, the city. Unlike Aubrey, who sometimes seemed overwhelmed by Chloe and like she needed a few minutes of a break, Beca was relaxed around her; that was important.

Other times she would think of Aubrey, of their fights, of their banter and it was obvious to her that if there was one of the two she was destined to be with then it would be Aubrey. Anything worth fighting for was worth having. They would grow with one another, they had so much to learn from the other one. She understood her field and found the same facts and books interesting. She was crazy about Aubrey. She was sexy. She was funny in a quiet kind of way. Earning the trust of someone like Aubrey was a grand prize, something to be cherished, and unlike Beca, it wasn't easy, so then they would never grow bored.

So she would decide that Aubrey was the right choice.

And then her mind would start all over again, spinning through her best friends that she had kissed and gently touched and now couldn't stop thinking about.

Ten days of this and she was so ready to talk.

Aubrey had done what she could to make herself available over the weekend before and had sent a very tentative text to the group chat on Friday night asking if they were going to get together to talk. Chloe had intended one hundred percent to get together on Friday like always but then on Thursday a fellow guide's wife had gone into labor and she had inherited his tours; four on Friday, five on Saturday, and three on Sunday, plus a meeting scheduled at Basin St. Station.

She hadn't been able to get away at all, not for the length of time this talk deserved.

Beca had been up to her eyeballs in stress as well over the weekend and had sounded half crazed and a little bit like she might burst into tears or break something when Chloe had called to check up on her.

They had no choice but to put off seeing one another until they all had an evening free, aka tonight, Monday.

Chloe had declined any extra tours that day, Beca had declined a small gig and Aubrey had rescheduled a dinner meeting, but they were all free and Chloe couldn't wait.

And she was nervous. She was very nervous, but she was excited as well. She didn't really know what was going to come of this talk, if anything was going to come of it. She wasn't worried, at least not like she could be, or even should be. She wasn't worried about what they had done or that they had done it. It had been amazing.

She was worried about her choice, yes, but she was also sure that the decision would become clear eventually. That was how life worked, eventually the answer would be clear. There was something there and they would find it. Hopefully together.

She _was_ worried, however, about what the others were going to think.

She expected them to freak out, well, but she had also expected them to freak out in the moment; especially Aubrey, despite the fact that _she_ had been the one to start it.

Chloe smiled to herself, feeling her excitement bubble again, her hands balling into fists and shaking at her sides with unconstrained energy, making her bite down hard on her lip to keep the smile to herself.

She had _so known_ that there was something holding Aubrey back in their friendship, she had been sure of it for months; something that had been keeping Aubrey from being willing to let go with them. She knew that not everyone was as fast and loose as she was with her emotions but there was no way that anyone could be as stiff as Aubrey was, not without making an effort to be.

And well, Beca herself had told them many times about a time when her first go-to reaction to most situations involving people was to freeze up, panic, over think, and run. Chloe couldn't believe that from their chill girl, but she had been a little afraid when the clock had ticked by post text message that perhaps she was going to get the live show.

But she hadn't.

And Aubrey hadn't.

She didn't know what this was going to be like today but whatever was going to happen, she was excited and not seeing them for a whole _ten days_ post _that_ had been torture.

Chloe felt eyes on her and turned, trying to swallow her grin because she knew those inquisitive eyes were Stacie's. If she wasn't careful, then Stacie was going to ask her why she was smiling like that and then Chloe would tell her; she knew she would. She didn't think she could keep it in much longer.

Ugh, and time was moving so slowly! The last ten minutes of the day had easily been going on for three hours, she was sure of it.

She pulled out her phone and checked it again. She wasn't _really_ worried that they would actually cancel...not really. Still, she was relieved when there was no new text in the group chat between them. There hadn't been a lot in that thread this week, but she wasn't surprised by that. They all had very little, or maybe too much, to say. Without fully giving herself permission, her fingers slid the conversation up like she had been doing constantly since the night they went to the movies, so that she could read the messages from ten days before:

11:17 P.M. - Chloe:

"Okay. Am I really the only one who remembers?"

11:17 P.M. - Chloe:

"Because I was just watching you two walking toward your cars and all I could think about was kissing you."

11:53 P.M. - Beca:

"So um, I just spent a good thirty minutes trying to figure out what to say to this and the only thing I came up with was to say that yeah, I remember."

11:55 P.M. - Aubrey:

"For serious? Oh my god, I thought I was the only one!"

12:00 A.M. - Chloe:

"So we all remember?"

12:10 A.M. - Beca:

"Yup."

12:21 A.M. - Aubrey:

"Yes."

12:02 A.M. - Chloe:

"Okay good. Should we talk?"

The conversation had gone into careful planning then. They both had seemed so nervous even via text, each response taking so long that Chloe had been sure they were spending extra time reading and re-reading their own responses before they sent them.

"Whatcha up to?"

Chloe let out a yelp, shoving her phone back into her pocket before Stacie could get a good look. She gave a breathy laugh, for once minding a little that Stacie had wrapped her arms around her waist. She loved closeness but right now she didn't want to be cuddled.

"Whoa there, buddy!" Stacie cried, jerking back at Chloe's violent reaction.

"Sorry! You just scared the dayli -" she cleared her throat annoyed as ever by that creeping accent, "You scared me!"

Stacie smirked and gave a little shrug, "So I noticed! Sorry! What are you-"

But at that moment Chloe's phone went off, the alarm that she had set especially for her release from work blaring between them.

She let out a happy squeal, her excitement taking her up to her toes for a moment before she dived on her friend, giving her a hug and a peck on the cheek, "Sorry Stace, I gotta go!"

"But wait, what are you doing tonight?"

Chloe, however, was already out the door.

She walked quickly, her ballet flats slapping happily on the sidewalk as she moved through the Quarter. It was one week to Halloween and it was still a perfect and beautiful 80° out. She knew Beca was dying, that she was completely ready to have the city cool down but Chloe had to disagree. She loved the heat. There was nothing quite like lying across a crisp clean bed with only a sheet draped over you. It was sensual, and beautiful and so relaxing.

She casually watched the sights go by as she went. They were the same thing she saw every day but the vivid colors seemed brighter than normal, the people seemed to be laughing louder, the children seemed cuter as she walked. Was it always this beautiful or was it her mood? She didn't know.

She let herself into her studio, her mind already ruffling through her closet. She had been debating what to wear all day. They had decided, instead of coming down to the Quarter, that they would all meet at Aubrey's place and Aubrey was going to cook dinner for them. Chloe thought it was perfect. No one would be watching them, no one would be in their way, it would just be the three of them.

Perfect.

She checked her watch, wanting to make sure that she made it in time to catch the streetcar that would take her to Aubrey's. Beca had offered to pick her up, of course she had, Beca was the picture of chivalry. Chloe had declined though, insisting that she was just going to walk and then take the streetcar the rest of the way. The nice thing about getting from the French Quarter to the Lower Garden District, where all the Mardi Gras parades were centered, was that those were the two biggest tourist spots in the city. Getting from one to the other was easy as pie. Besides, she didn't think she could get into a car with Beca and not talk about it. She would tell herself not to, she would be _actively_ telling herself not to and yet her mouth wouldn't listen to her at all.

She showered quickly and did her hair and makeup, doing her best to make it seem as though she hadn't spent time on her appearance at all. She didn't know why, but she needed to look her best. Okay, she did know why - but perhaps what she didn't know was what that meant exactly.

Yet again she asked herself: What did she want the evening to bring?

When the answer didn't magically appear she just continued with her preparations.

She chose her clothes carefully, a white blouse, a cream skirt with black polka dots and her favorite wedge heels. It was cute and casual...but not too casual and she liked the way the heels and her skirt made her legs look. The outfit was perfect and only kind of read 'I made out with _both_ of my best friends and now I want something more from'...she didn't know...she didn't want to have to pick, and that made her feel so bad. The problem was that her dynamic with both of them was so different. How could you compare apples and oranges? You couldn't. Just like you shouldn't compare Aubrey and Beca. It didn't make one or the other more serious or more real, and that was the problem. Maybe what this meant was that the best thing to do here was to just agree not to choose, to continue on with their friendship because they were both too precious to lose.

Then again, the thought of never kissing either again, it made her sad in a way that she didn't think she could handle.

And what if...what if she missed out on something…

She cleared her thoughts and checked herself one more time before heading out.

She stopped just outside of the Quarter and bought a few bottles of wine and then started out toward Canal Street and the waiting streetcar.

Walking up to Aubrey's home was both exciting and nerve-wracking. She couldn't help it when she picked up her pace a little, half skipping as she approached the old and weathered wrought iron gate that was decked out with equally old Mardi Gras beads, pushed it open and climbed the stairs. She rang the doorbell and took a deep breath.

She wasn't sure if she was surprised when it was Beca who answered the door but she was surprised when Beca just stood there, blinking quickly as she looked at her. "Wow, Chlo."

Those two words sent such a giddy flood of excitement through her that she had to plant her feet.

Sometimes she was too rash in showing her affections and she probably shouldn't just throw her arms around Beca like she would have always done. When she realized she couldn't do that she found that she felt a little shy under the excitement. She swallowed and gave a small nod, "Thank you." She swallowed again as she realized that Beca also looked amazing.

At first she couldn't place what was different about her devilish smile and then Beca blinked, a little nervous under Chloe's stare and she realized that her makeup was different. Instead of the dark cat eye that she was used to, Beca had switched to warm golds and browns, making her skin and her eyes glow. "Beca," she breathed, wanting to reach and touch her, "you look beautiful."

The surprise on Beca's face was so genuine that Chloe closed her hands on her purse strap to keep herself in place. This was not the time for a hug. This was not the time for a hug.

Beca blinked a few times and then her grin came back at full force, making Chloe's heart skip a little faster. She loved that smile, the way it sparkled as well as spoke of a million little mischiefs. It was gorgeous...and it made her want to kiss her.

Oh god, what was wrong with her?

These feelings might be new but that didn't hinder their strength in the slightest.

See. Life was going to work the situation out. There was _no way_ that she would feel such a strong reaction to Aubrey too. It wasn't possible.

Breaking the eye contact that she hadn't realized she had been holding, she gave her another small smile and stepped by Beca, settling instead of a hug...or a kiss...for a soft touch to her shoulder.

"Aubrey's in the kitchen."

"Okay," Chloe nodded, heading straight through the first two rooms.

Her feet suddenly stuck inside the doorway so that Beca bounced off of her back. She hadn't meant to just _stop_ but _this_ was sudden stop worthy! Her heart hadn't slowed from the moment at the door with Beca and yet, here it went again. "Aubrey!" She breathed.

It was clear that Aubrey had showered post work as well but she - well - she -

Chloe tried to get her brain to kick start into working again.

Perhaps the kissing really had allowed a side of Aubrey to come through that had been hidden, or perhaps it was that Aubrey had been going for general nonchalance too, either way, Chloe approved.

Aubrey stopped, mid reaching for a glass, her eyebrows high, her gray eyes wide.

For the first time, she was not in a pencil skirt or slacks or a business suit but instead in a pair of stylishly tight jeans, a green blouse that made her eyes sing, Keds, and...her _hair was down_.

In the four months that Chloe had known Aubrey, she had never once seen her with her hair down _or_ in jeans _or_ out of high heels.

She looked amazing.

She looked _ravishing_.

Beca moved around her, grinning at her stunned face and nodding with sympathy as if to say, 'yeah, me too'.

She just stared, her mouth hanging open. She could tell that she was starting to make Aubrey uncomfortable - that pointing out the change was not going to be helpful here, but she couldn't get her brain to roll back into high gear.

Seeing the golden waves cascading down her shoulders made Chloe want to weave her hands into it, made her want to touch it in a way that she knew she shouldn't.

What would happen if she just did? What would happen if she just did it? If she just pinned Aubrey to the wall, right here, right now?

Or - Beca - she finally broke her stare to look at Beca, realizing that her frayed edged shorts and fitted white t-shirt was just as much of a purposely chosen thing as her own outfit. She had never seen Beca in shorts before so she had never seen the steampunk paisley watch work and music note thigh sleeve before. Now that she was seeing it, now that she could see it poking out from under the shorts, promising of secrets to be uncovered…she wanted to touch that too.

Like, a lot.

 _Damn it_ , she wasn't supposed to react this way to both of them!

"Chloe, are you alright?"

"Yes!" She cried, giving a guilty start. "I'm okay!" She moved, knowing she had been standing there for too long. "I brought wine."

"Awesome!" Beca nodded, a bottle of beer already in her hand.

"Oh shoot."

"No, no!" Beca shook her head and drained the bottle. "Wine is good."

"Yes," Aubrey gave her a small smile. " _Thank you, Chloe._ "

There was something in Aubrey's smile that made Chloe wonder if maybe she was referring to more than one thing.

Had Aubrey been waiting on pins and needles to find out what the other two remembered as well?

She realized she was staring again so she turned away.

"So! What's for dinner? It smells amazing." She set down the bottles of wine and came around behind Aubrey, reminding herself not to touch, as she glanced at the food.

Aubrey still seemed flustered anyway, but she was willing to pretend she hadn't noticed that. "Pork tenderloin with," Aubrey cleared her throat, "roasted brussels sprouts and a chipotle dressing."

"That sounds amazing," she cried a little manically and before she could stop herself she was squeezing Aubrey's arm.

Damn it!

She banished herself to the other side of the room, mentally swearing when she stood too close to Beca and moved to the other side of the counter where she was standing alone.

She was just _not_ good at hiding it when she felt something for someone. That was literally the opposite of what you should do when you had feelings for someone! It was all or nothing with her.

Beca watched her the entire time, a small smile on her lips as though she knew exactly what Chloe was struggling with.

"Errr, so," Beca shifted a little, her hand compulsively running through her hair, "anyone else having the week that I am?"

Chloe groaned into a laugh, her face falling into her hands and all three began to talk at once.

Things started to feel normal then. Chloe pushed herself up onto the far end of the counter and crossed her legs and Beca continued to lean beside the stove while Aubrey cooked. They talked about work, Halloween plans, and of Amy and Stacie who, it turned out, had gone home with members of the band that drunken night.

"Stacie actually went home with _two!_ " Chloe laughed, shaking her head.

"Really?" Beca gave a snort that was both totally surprised and yet somehow not at all. "Which?"

"The lead singer and the sax player." Chloe's tongue gave a click, "Said she had a great time."

"Jesus. Yeah, I bet she did."

They stayed that way chatting for a while and though it felt good for the three of them to feel like _them_ again, Chloe couldn't help but to notice just how distracted she was by Aubrey's hair and Beca's thighs. She was starting to feel a little guilty about it. At least she _knew_ that she was subtle.

"Yeah so," Beca shook her head, resettling herself again against the counter. "Amy has been all messed up since drinking too. She says the guy did it to her as, I don't know, some kinky sex injury? I dunno. I think it's because she fell off a float."

"Wait, what?" Chloe cried.

"Yes, I think you left out a very vital piece of information there, Beca."

"Oh yeah, okay," she paused as Aubrey handed her another glass of wine, "um, thank you. So all the Halloween floats are in, right? And there's one that's doing this old time movie thing." Chloe nodded, smiling as she watched Beca animatedly tell the story. "They're doing this whole King Kong motif so they have this freaking _giant_ Empire State building, like, I don't even know how they are going to get it out of the loading doors, right? So this stupid guy bets Amy that she can't get up there, which, I wasn't that worried because she is not about physical activity, but she gets it in her mind that she can and she wants a freaking picture on this thing – because, you know, that's a great idea and, you know what, whatever."

"Oh no!" Aubrey half laughed, half hissed.

"Yup. She starts climbing up this thing that is like made with paper mache and shit, I don't know how she didn't break it, and she's screaming at me to take her picture, right?"

"Oh my god!" Chloe laughed, her hand over her mouth.

"So, get this," she pulled out her phone and showed them a photo of a giant and impressive Empire State building and an orange blur. "I took it right as she lost her footing and fell."

"Oh my god!" Chloe reached for the phone, pulling it and Beca's fingers toward her to get a better look. "You can almost see her face there, look! It looks like she's screaming!"

Beca gave a pitiful laugh, "Yeah. Yeah, she was!"

"Oh." Chloe realized that she was holding Beca's hand and let it go, looking away; only to be distracted by something else. "Aubrey?" She asked after a moment.

"Hmm?" Aubrey, still chuckling, had moved back to the food, checking it. "I think this is almost done."

"Back here, what is that?" She pointed down the hallway that led from the kitchen to another set of rooms. While the formal living room, dining room, and the kitchen were all in shades of oranges, reds and other shockingly hot earth tones, these rooms were pale, light blues and greens. Seeing them made Chloe's heart flutter with excitement. She had been surprised by the bold color choices of the outer rooms but now Chloe wondered if perhaps the duality was something that fit Aubrey perfectly, hot and bold mixed with quiet and serene.

It made her want to see Beca's apartment.

"Oh, that's just the den and my bedroom."

"You have another living room?" Beca asked, glancing around the corner and into the room that Chloe was studying.

"It's just a den," Aubrey said, waving it off.

"Can we sit there?"

Aubrey looked a little startled as Chloe grinned at her.

She hadn't even been in it yet but she thought that the den was going to be her favorite room of the house. How had she been coming here for months and she had never seen it?

"Oh," Aubrey's long lashes fluttered as she blinked. "Of course. Um, sure."

Chloe grinned and hopped off the counter, flying in and settling herself on one of the two couches.

She was right. She nodded as she glanced around; this room was like wrapping herself in all things Aubrey. She caught both of them and pulled them down on either side of her, smiling brightly. "I like this room."

Aubrey made a slightly noncommittal noise and shifted a little, taking more room for herself on the couch.

"You don't usually bring people back here, do you?" Beca asked.

Chloe glanced back at Aubrey, a little startled.

She always envied Beca this. Chloe was sure that she had a decent insight to Aubrey, she had seen moments of it constantly but Beca, she just seemed to have a natural ability at it. She just seemed to _understand_ Aubrey in a way that Chloe wasn't sure she did.

Had she pushed too far by asking to come back here?

Aubrey's cheeks went pink and she laughed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "No, I don't often have the type of guest that would require seeing a room so," she glanced around at the knitted afghan on the other couch, the framed photos, "personal."

Chloe didn't know if she was offended or amused when she turned, giving Aubrey a playful little shove, "And what about us? We don't count?"

It took a second for the stunned silence to sink in, just like it did to register the fact that she had all but thrown herself into Aubrey's lap when she turned.

"Oh!" She felt her cheeks going hot as she understood the double meaning of her own words, as she registered her hands on Aubrey's arm and the way she was leaning toward her. "Oh," She sat back, "I didn't mean it like _that!_ " But she knew that she was blushing, just like she could see the other two women were. "Anyway," she pushed forward, hoping to trample the suddenly charged awkward air, "we're your _friends_. We totally should count for the super secret Aubrey lair, but," she added, "it's okay if we don't. I'm sorry, do you want to go back out front?"

Aubrey's mouth opened, her eyes again going to the afghan, the photos and so on. "No," she finally said. "It's all right."

"Gotta admit, Bree," Beca nodded, "this couch is a lot more comfortable."

"I guess, I never really thought about it," she admitted. "About bringing you back here, I mean."

"Well. It's settled then." Chloe nodded, her mind pouring over her own actions. Was she pushing it? She felt as though she was pushing it and the weirdness in the room, not quite tension but also not anything else told her that maybe she was. Looking for a change in atmosphere she said, "Anyway, who wants to hear about when Stacie got caught with a tourist in the broom closet this week?"

Before they could answer the timer on the oven went off and Aubrey excused herself.

She came back a few minutes later, looking at them as though she wasn't entirely sure how they had gotten back there into a place that Aubrey clearly kept only for herself. "Dinner is done."

Chloe and Beca, after asking if they could help and being turned down, sat at the table to wait; occasionally sending one another small smiles.

Things were weird. Was it possible to be both wired and totally tense at once?

They needed to talk. _Chloe_ needed to talk, but she supposed that was probably going to be an after dinner thing.

That was fine.

She could wait.

Probably.

Dinner was fine. Yes, that same underlying thing was still there, the unspoken 'we all kissed' _thing,_ but Chloe found that it was actually kind of invigorating more than it was upsetting. She loved it.

She glanced between the other two women as she took a sip of her wine. The table had fallen silent again and it was making Chloe wonder, was she the only one that found this a little exciting?

Throughout the meal Beca had been a little more jumpy, a little more prone to blushing and Aubrey - concern washed through her as she realized while she and Beca were halfway through their meals, Aubrey had barely started. Instead she was pushing her food from one side of the plate to the other, her face alarmingly clammy.

"Bree?"

She had done her best to keep her voice soft and yet Aubrey still jumped hard. She reached out and took Aubrey's hand, a little worried. "You don't look like you feel very good. Are you alright?"

Aubrey's over wide eyes blinked at her a few times, her throat working before she turned her gaze back to her plate. "I'm fine."

"Aubrey," Beca tried, "you really don't look so great. What's up?"

There was another long silence before Aubrey answered in a near whisper, "I have a...problem."

"Okay," Beca nodded, a little nervous.

"I have a bad habit of falling ill when I'm stressed or too nervous. Physically ill."

Compassion flooded through Chloe, making her squeeze her hand tighter. She didn't want Aubrey to be so nervous. Not at all. She never wanted Aubrey to be nervous because of them.

Beca let out a small laugh, "Bree, you gotta relax a little bit."

Aubrey just gave her a little smile but her face only grew clammier.

"What are you so nervous about?" She asked in her best quiet demeanor. Quiet was not easy for her, it wasn't really her permanent state.

Aubrey's eyes flashed to her, suddenly digging into her with alarming intensity.

Chloe winced, her hand falling off of her and back into her lap. She didn't like that look at all and it had hurt a bit. She thought fast, trying to come up with anything to say that would make that better. She couldn't find any sentiment so instead she clicked her tongue, tilting her head teasingly to the side, "I thought that you both were excellent kissers."

They both gave the needed forced laughed but Chloe barely heard them. A horrible thought had just occurred to her and though her voice was still soft, she couldn't stop herself from asking, "It wasn't bad for you guys, was it?"

Beca's face immediately went tomato red while Aubrey's went green.

They sat there for a moment...two...three in stunned silence.

Finally Beca gave a loud laugh, her hands coming up to cover her face. "I just can't believe we did it." She cried through her fingers. "Like, we did that." Her hands slapped back into her lap, "We all -"

There was a loud scrape of wood on wood as Aubrey threw back her chair and bolted from the room.

"Bree!" Chloe cried.

The bathroom door closed and though it was silent, Chloe was mortified.

"Is she?"

"I think so." Beca frowned.

"Oh my god!" Chloe wailed, falling back into her chair, "Did we just make her throw up? That so can't be a good sign! Oh my _god!_ "

It was a few minutes before Aubrey came back to the table, eyes downcast, shaky and smelling strongly of mint.

Aubrey's hand went up, stopping Chloe from speaking, "It is something that happens sometimes. There is _no_ need to talk about it."

"Okay." Chloe gave a nod. "It's just - it's not such a big deal, right? We're attracted to each other. I think we all already knew that, right?"

"Yes," Aubrey gave a stiff nod, "but what do we do?"

"Is there anything _to do_?" Beca asked, glancing around at them before she settled on playing with the stem of her wine glass.

"I don't know."

Everyone at the table fell silent, their minds working as the room suddenly began to feel heavy and sad.

What was there to do?

"We could try dating."

Both Beca and Aubrey looked up at her, startled.

"Uh," was all Beca got out.

Chloe shifted. As soon as she said it she knew it was the thing they _had_ to do. They had to. Clearly. Only - her stomach was cramping and she could feel a sheen of sweat forming. The same question was here now. She knew that she was going to have to address it but she didn't know what to say.

 _Who?_

Which one of them?

"I don't really know what else we can do." She glanced at Beca and then at Aubrey and more words came spilling from her before she let them, "Can I say something really terrible? Like, really, really horrible?" Her hands balled into fists in her lap. "Because you guys have become my best friends and I want to be honest. That's important, being honest is important." They didn't answer...or maybe she didn't give them time to answer, she didn't know. All she knew was suddenly she was blurting, "I - I really liked kissing you - _both_." She winced at her own words, expecting them to explode, expecting them to be hurt or angry, for an argument to start with Aubrey or anything.

Instead Aubrey's shoulders slumped and she sat back in her chair, her face like Chloe had just defused a bomb for her while Beca gave a loud spluttering cough, choking on her wine.

"Oh god!" She cried, watching Beca wipe wine from her chin. "Does that mean that was just me? Oh my _god_ , pretend I didn't say anything, pretend," she was about to hide her face, to curl up in a ball of shame but Beca broke her tirade.

"No, no. Me too."

"What?" she gasped, suddenly feeling light and bubbly. Beca felt the same way?

They turned to look at Aubrey, who just nodded in agreement.

"So then," she charged on, "who do I date? I can't date both of you, right? I mean, that would be weird, right? I can't - I don't know! We can't -"

The three looked at each other for a moment before they all looked away.

The other two seemed to have nothing to say and their silence was too much for Chloe, it was like a winding tension in her extremities, making her need to move, to pace, to jump up and down just because she could.

She did her best to wait, but what did their silence _mean?_

"I just - I don't know, I'm sorry! That was horrible to say!" She wailed, "I just can't - I don't -"

" _I want both of you and I don't know how to choose_!" The words suddenly burst from Aubrey and then she yelped, slapping her hand over her mouth like she had just thrown up on the table.

This time Beca did choke, spraying wine across her plate but Chloe just beamed.

"Exactly." She couldn't have put it better herself. Aubrey looked up at her, fear covering her face and Chloe just smiled, happy about this new development.

" _Chloe!_ " Aubrey shouted in that way that she did from time to time, that way that let Chloe know that Aubrey thought she was being too carefree or in some other way completely ridiculous. "You say that as though that suddenly makes this all make sense!"

Chloe gave an exasperated groan; the same one she always gave when Aubrey was being too uptight or not seeing the world the way that Chloe did. "Because it _does!_ It makes perfect sense! We're all friends!" She smirked at them, "Best friends."

"I don't,"

"No fucking fighting!" Beca cried.

So Aubrey stopped, fixing the placement of her wine glass and steeling herself, her lips pursed into a thin line.

Chloe's eyes narrowed, ready for the fight, ready to fight for this idea but Aubrey had turned, giving Beca a questioning glance and that made her realize that Beca hadn't said anything. Feeling a swell of panic she turned to look at her too, suddenly worried. What did it mean that she hadn't answered?

Beca flinched but still spent a minute playing with the wine glass. Finally their eyes must have become too much because though she didn't look up at them she gave a tight nod. "No, that pretty much covers it for me too."

"Oh, thank god." Chloe breathed. "So then, what do we do?" Again her mind drifted to what seemed like the obvious answer, the answer that she _hated._ "That probably means that we shouldn't date at all, right?" She desperately looked to the other two, hoping they would have an answer. "If we all feel like this then none of us should date?"

Aubrey and Beca exchanged baffled looks and while she could tell they weren't confused by her words, as much as just confused in general, it bothered her a little bit.

"I don't know." She cried. "I've never been in this situation before. I didn't know...I didn't know it was possible to want _two_ people _so_ badly." She snapped her mouth shut. She was talking too much. She needed to talk less, to give them more room to talk.

"Or maybe...we should just date."

Eyes wide and mouth agape they both turned to stare at Beca.

Beca gave an annoyed eye roll, "What?" She cried and while they both looked at her like she might be crazy Beca just stared back at them, seeming curious and strangely unrepentant.

"Wouldn't that be weird?"

But Chloe was chewing her cheek, her thoughts going a mile a minute. Date? As in she could date _both_ Aubrey and Beca?

Was that possible?

"It wouldn't have to be though, right?" If she were being totally honest she knew that it was all weird, that even talking about it was weird. Yes, this was New Orleans where anything goes and not in a tawdry Vegas kind of way but in an everything was chill, live-and-let-live kind of way. Still, this was totally _crazy_! Dating _both_ of her best friends was _crazy!_ ...And it would for sure end in heartbreak for one of these two beautiful ladies, right? Yes, she was sure of that. It was unavoidable and she couldn't, no, she couldn't stand that thought!

"Do we risk it?"

Chloe looked up into Aubrey's face, not as surprised as she should be about the fact that Aubrey's mind was exactly where hers was. She saw the worry on Aubrey's face and she wanted to reach forward and take her hand.

"Do we risk our friendship, ladies? I've - I've never had friends like you two before."

Beca let out a snort, shattering the stress filled moment, "Yeah," she scoffed, "I've never had _friends_ like this before either."

Chloe stared at Beca for a moment before she suddenly burst into laughter. "Yes," she laughed until she let out a snort, "I guess that's true too!"

Aubrey was just looking at them like she couldn't for the life of her understand why the hell Beca and Chloe had tears of laughter pouring down their faces.

"Oh come on, Bree!" She cried, holding a stitch in her side. "Have you ever really had _friends_ like us?"

Aubrey stared for another moment before her eyes gave a grudging roll and her lips began to twist into an unwilling smile. Soon, much to Chloe's delight, Aubrey was laughing with them.

They laughed for a long while, longer than was probably necessary but Chloe didn't mind. Actually she loved it! She loved their laughter, she loved their bright eyes, she loved the way their voices sounded together.

She swallowed thickly, her laughter dying fast as she was hit with an onslaught of images, as suddenly through their laughter she remembered their lips, their bodies, remembered the way she had touched herself a few nights later with those exact thoughts rolling languidly through her mind.

And she wasn't laughing anymore.

Embarrassed, she lifted her hand and began to gently roll her bottom lip between her fingers, nervous that somehow they would know.

The silence registered and she looked up fast, her face instantly on fire, only neither were looking at her. Instead both Aubrey and Beca seemed just as lost in their own thoughts.

"I can't stop thinking about the kissing." She hadn't meant to confess, not at all and yet she couldn't find it in herself to be embarrassed.

It was just too _true._

And she couldn't be embarrassed about the truth.

Still, when they didn't answer she looked up, worried that maybe that had been too much for them.

She hadn't expected to see what she did.

She didn't know what she had expected. Nothing; she hadn't expected anything. Still she was pleasantly caught off guard when she looked up and saw the twin looks of _hunger_ on their faces.

It wiped anything she had been thinking from her brain instantly, leaving only _response._ She wanted to respond to that, she wanted to crawl over the table, _under_ the table.

Chloe loved sex. Which sounded strange because who didn't love sex? Everyone loved sex. But she...she _really_ loved sex. How could she not? She loved to touch, even in a friendly way. It was communicating without words, it was giving in to the ultimate chaos, it was everything Chloe loved.

And right then she wanted it.

She just…she _wanted_ it.

Beca glanced at Aubrey and the growling, spitting cat inside of Chloe only grew when she saw the same look there, it didn't change at all and that was -

A sudden slap made Chloe jump.

Beca had suddenly slapped her hands over her face, giving a bestial groan.

"What's wrong?" Aubrey asked, reaching over and gently touching her arm.

Even from across the table Chloe could see just how soft and sweet the action was, how gentle. Her heart gave a pang, touched by Aubrey's sweet side like she always was.

" _Nothing!_ " Beca moaned through her fingers, "I'm just _thinking_ about it again!"

The tenderness of Aubrey had knocked Chloe's response back a bit, clearing her head but now...

"We could uh," Beca's head twitched as she gave a one-shouldered shrug, still hiding behind her face, "we could always do more of the kissing."

She knew that Beca was just teasing, she could see it in the smirk on her face but, delighted, Chloe decided that was enough.

"Awes," she announced, "then it's settled! Let's date!"

" _Who?_ " Both Aubrey and Beca shot back.

Her smile faltered, "I don't know! All of us!"

"What?" Aubrey frowned.

Beca just stared, her mouth hanging open.

"I don't know!" Chloe cried, "Like, you two go on a date and then we'll go on a date and then - I don't know, Aubrey! Do you have a better idea?"

Beca just continued to stare at her.

"Isn't that," Aubrey picked at her napkin for a moment, seemed to realize she was doing it and forced herself to stop, "Isn't that," she cleared her throat. "That's weird."

"Only if we let it be!" She instantly argued back, "I mean, how else can we know?"

"Know what?"

Her mouth opened but this time she didn't answer.

 _Know_. That's what. Like... _know_ kind of know. But she didn't want to say that.

The thing was, Chloe believed in love completely. She was sure that there was a love out there for everyone; one perfectly true love that would move mountains; a shoe for every foot. Her parents had taught her that and she had seen it growing up, had seen her parents love one another with a fierceness that no one could deny.

She wanted that. She had been waiting for it her whole life.

What if - somewhere in this mess of a strange situation was her 'one'?

Or if _she_ was the third one out, as one of them had to be, then she would be happy for them. It would be horrible, but she would be so, so happy for them.

The thought made her nervous though.

She didn't want to lose either of them. Thinking of that made her want to cry!

But how could she walk away when she felt this draw, this pull to them?

She _had_ to find her 'one'.

"So." Beca started with a huff, her cheeks and eyes bulging. "We're doing this?"

"Yes," she announced with all the confidence she could muster. "Let's actually do this. It's either that or forget about the kissing, which maybe we should, but," she shook her head in a blatant I-don't-want-to, "I think we won't know until we try."

They both looked to one another and then to her, doubt written across their faces.

* * *

Hey guys! I hope everyone is having fun with this fic!  
Do me a favor and if you're enjoying it, spread the link around. Link it on your Tumblr, your Facebook/twitter/whatever! I'm still trying to break into this fandom and I could use all of the help that I can get!  
Thanks so much!

* * *

New fan art for chapter eight AKA their first kiss! Dragone is just so amazing! I'm so lucky! Like, not just saying that. I really don't know how I got so lucky. Dani, you're amazing. I can't even handle it.  
So yeah, there's a direct link on AO3 or check it out on Tumblr (ioliviajanae) under the 'Art by Dragone' tag! Comment, give her some love, please!


	11. Chapter 11

_**Beca**_

* * *

Here was the thing - and it was super important - _fuck_ Thanksgiving.

She had a reason at the time for agreeing to spend the stupid holiday with her dad and Sheila. She _knew_ she had but sitting across from Francis, she couldn't remember what it had been.

Maybe she had gone temporarily insane because she had been avoiding her dad and stepmom since she was pretty young so what the fuck had happened? She literally had no freaking idea.

She was miserable. And not like, fun miserable where you are suffering but it's for a good cause. No, this was just total crap.

And her mom's mashed potatoes were better.

Or Aubrey's.

Actually _Aubrey's_ mashed potatoes were definitely better and they weren't even potatoes, apparently they were mashed cauliflower because ' _potatoes aren't paleo, Beca_!' Which had been such an Aubrey thing to say that Beca literally hadn't been able to respond properly. All she had said was, 'errrrr, _okay_.'

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket again, making the corner of her lips twitch up.

She knew exactly who it was going to be before she even pulled her phone out.

Sure enough; the text was from Chloe and all it said was, "Date me!"

She suppressed an amused eye roll, knowing her dad would think it was at him and it would be the beginning of another long lecture, which would of course turn into a fight. Instead she just pursed her lips a little and put her phone back in her pocket.

She checked back into the 'talk' that her dad swore wasn't a lecture, but really was; double checking that she still didn't need to listen.

"I mean really, Beca, _New Orleans_? The party capital of the world? I thought you had finally grown up. At least in San Francisco there was some culture. At your age-"

Nope. She zoned back out, taking another bite of the unsatisfactory potatoes.

It was freaking Thanksgiving. You would think that this would be the time to love and accept one another or...something, but she had known she was boned the moment that her dad had announced that her perfect step sister, Sarah, had just been accepted into law school a year early. He hadn't even waited until she was fully through the door. He had literally started going on and on about it before he had asked her how she was or how her flight had been. Which was exactly why she had taken a cab from the airport and avoided the awkward ride back to the house.

Truthfully, she had been boned thanks to Sarah for years; since she had started high school, of which, she had also graduated from a year early, by the way. It was great. She was living in the shadow of a kid that was ten years younger than her. That wasn't fucked up at all.

Sarah was a machine and next to her Beca had always looked like the freeloading problem child who just wouldn't 'buck up and fly right' as Aubrey would say.

Of course, before Sarah had been the standard Francis had expected, Beca had always still managed to disappoint him just by being herself. So maybe Sarah wasn't really the fucking problem as much as Francis.

Her phone went off again and once again she checked it under the table, feeling like a disrespectful teen.

"Date me!"

She sighed, this time the affectionate eye roll came out before she could stop it. Thankfully her dad was cutting himself - and Sarah - another slice of turkey and so didn't notice. Because why would he?

Beca sighed, ignoring Sarah, who at least seemed embarrassed that their dad was acting this way. She was too old to hold childhood grudges, such as the fact that Sarah had even been born. Beca knew that she was too old, but she was sure that Sarah was never going to be her favorite or even someone she liked.

Her phone buzzed again and this time Beca didn't pull it out, gnawing at the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing.

These texts from Chloe were funny and adorable and not really all of that surprising.

It had been exactly one month now since _that_ dinner at Aubrey's and so far nothing had changed. That was probably because they hadn't decided anything official _that night_ and it kind of seemed like no one wanted to be the one to push it.

Well, no, that wasn't true. Chloe was all about pushing it.

The three had tried to carry on like normal for a few days, texting like always, complaining about work and Aubrey's brother and life in general. Then it seemed as though it had begun to sink in for all of them. They had been talking about _dating_. Like some weird dating triangle where she would date both Chloe and Aubrey and, what, they both would know it? Where Aubrey would be dating she and Chloe and Chloe would be dating her and Aubrey and... how did that even work? _'Where the kisses are hers and hers and hers, three's company too.'_ She didn't know but as it sank in for them one by one the group text had suddenly become less active, creating a strange radio silence.

Halloween came and went and Beca hadn't been sure what the other two had done. She had assumed that Aubrey had stayed home and she was sure that Chloe had gone out, but not knowing the specifics was weird. Beca had thought at one point that maybe the girls might come to the parade - and maybe they had - but if so then they hadn't told her about it.

A few days after that, the texts from Chloe had started.

They had been subtle at first, hinting that this place or that was great for a date or that she was free that weekend if anyone wanted to do anything (kissy face emoji).

Beca had no idea how to respond and apparently neither had Aubrey because at first Aubrey had just ignored the texts in the same way she ignored the teasingly forward ones that they sent her at work. When that hadn't changed Chloe's pressing then she and Beca had begun to laugh them off. Though, they all quietly noticed that they didn't make plans to get together either.

It hadn't been awkward, or at least not as awkward as it could have been.

It was just weird.

And not seeing them had been weird too. She had spent time with Amy. She had worked on her latest gig, a marching band jazz piece which was a mashup of pop and NOLA classic songs. She had gone to work. But she hadn't seen her friends.

After another week Chloe had given up her subtle hints and started suggesting they go on a date.

They had all gotten together that weekend for another dinner at Aubrey's place - mashed potato cauliflower - and it had been fine for the most part. They hadn't really talked about it much and that seemed to be too much for Chloe. After that she had begun to _ask_ for a date.

It was about then that Beca began to openly worry that maybe it was time to leave group texts behind, insisting to the other two that the texts 'made it weird, right? You know, for the sake of privacy and everyone's feelings and...stuff.'

Always cheery Chloe had responded with: 'Well, what if our dates conflict?'

And _that_ \- yeah, that had been too much for Beca.

They had gone back to radio silence and now, a month post original talk Chloe had whittled her tactics down to simple phone calls and texts with those very specific two words.

Beca wasn't sure exactly as to why she was holding back. It was weird, yeah, but she had been in weirder situations. Maybe it was Aubrey. She kind of felt like if they were going to jump in with both feet then she wanted to be sure that the other one, aka not Chloe, was willing to do so too and thus far she had seen no sign of that.

She didn't know but she was kind of hating the weirdness between them.

She...missed them.

And...was this really so bad?

Dating both Aubrey and Chloe? That sounded kind of awesome and yeah, she was worried - really worried - about the potential drama which was inevitable but she had been crazy about both of them for a while now and knowing they were crazy about her was, well, _crazy._

Her phone buzzed again and she felt a pull in her chest, a longing to actually see them.

She knew Chloe was in Texas with her huge horde of a family, probably having an amazing time.

Aubrey, that was less of a pleasant thought. It turned out that Aubrey was spending the holiday working, which Beca got. She usually did too and she wished that maybe she had stayed in New Orleans. Then maybe they could have gotten Chinese or something.

 _But would that have been a date?_

Ugh. She didn't know but she missed them and she was starting to feel like her restraint was wearing thin.

"Are you listening to me at all, Beca? My goodness, it's amazing how much you haven't changed since you were a teenager."

Her head snapped up, her eyes wide as she blinked at him, trying to pull her thoughts back from Chloe and Aubrey. "What? Ugh, gee, thanks, Dad." That was also unfairly not true. At all.

"How do you expect us to have a conversation when you're zoned out like that?"

"A conversation?" She asked, her eyebrows high in her hairline. "Is that what we were having? I kind of thought I had accidentally tripped and fallen into one of your lecture courses."

Her father shook his head, "Ha ha." It was the perfect example of where _she_ had gotten her sarcasm from.

"Dad, don't you think I'm a little old for you to still disapprove of my career? Haven't I, I dunno, flown the nest or whatever?" She _was_ too old. This wasn't college anymore when he thought that she 'needed a guiding hand' and so had forced it on her. It also wasn't that awkward time right after college when everyone was unsure of what the hell to do next. She was thankful that he had pushed her, yeah; she had gotten to her chosen career from his pushing. The thing was though, she was old enough now to have a career, a wife, and children if she wanted to. As a matter of fact, most people her age had those things. Wasn't it time to lay off? She had gone to good schools, she had a Master's in composing _and_ a Master's in sound tech and she had a good job. He needed to lay off.

Her phone went off again and she pulled it back out, choking on her laughter when she saw a series of 'Date me! Date me! Date me!' messages in their group chat.

Checking the table to be sure no one was looking at her she quickly typed back, "Guys, I don't really know if I can handle this conversation while my father is lecturing me about my life choices."

Chloe's response came immediately, making Beca wonder how it was she was so free right now and not busy with whatever Texans did for Thanksgiving. "Then just agree Beca and we can move on to talking about what we're going to do together!"

She let out a snort.

"Really, Beca?"

Caught, she looked up.

"How are you still not listening to me?"

"Because, Dad!" She cried. "I'm one of the people who composes and produces the music to one of the biggest events in the country! An event that is _known_ for its _music_! The only person who thinks I'm still fucking around is you!"

"Oh please. What, a bunch of drunk teenagers throwing beads and exposing themselves?"

Beca spluttered for a second. It was true she hadn't exactly fallen in love with the city like Chloe was desperate for her to do - mostly - but she did know that whittling Mardi Gras down to that was bullshit. She opened her mouth, wincing and blinking slowly through her annoyance. "I have a phone call to make. Excuse me."

She quickly made her way up the staircase to the guest bedroom, wondering why the hell she had agreed to stay the night.

Her phone buzzed and, equal parts exasperated and amused, Beca opened the text to the words 'date me' written over and over again. Chloe was on a mission today, apparently.

She flopped down in the window seat and stared at her phone, at the words, at the silly Chloe emoji's. It always blew her mind how one moment Chloe could school them on the coming of age practices of 18th century Louisiana and the next could stub her toe and send them a string of happy smiling cartoon piles of shit.

She flicked through her phone and dialed Aubrey's number, a number she was fairly certain she had never called on its own before.

"Beca! Hi!"

Relief flooded through her the moment she heard Aubrey's voice, relieving a boulder that she hadn't known was sitting on her chest. Her forehead fell to the glass of the window as she took a steadying breath. "If I ask really nicely will you come and get me?"

"What? What's wrong?" She heard the click of Aubrey's office door on the other line, a near constant when they called her at work.

"You're really at work right now?"

"Of course."

Beca just chuckled, watching the leaves blowing lightly in the breeze outside.

"What's wrong, Beca?" Not for the first time Beca's mind drifted back to that first day, to Aubrey all but biting, 'For serious, why are you being such a bitch right now'. It was always the baffling thought she had when Aubrey's voice was this soft, this kind and compassionate.

She sighed, "Nothing really. Just the same stuff as always. I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to come see my dad."

Aubrey just made a soft noise of understanding. "I can come get you. It's only a six-hour drive."

Beca grinned a little. She was pretty sure this woman that she had totally originally pegged as a royal cunt would get her ass in the car right then and start driving if Beca wanted her to. "No, that's okay. Thanks though."

Her phone chimed as they sat there on the line in silence together.

"Another from Chloe?" Beca asked when Aubrey let out a small snicker.

"Yes."

"More 'date me'?"

Aubrey laughed lightly, in a way that Beca liked. She liked her connection with Aubrey. Where everything with Chloe was active and fun, things with Aubrey tended to be a little more relaxed. She liked that she and Aubrey could simply sit together like this. Chloe would have filled the silence with constant chatter and while Beca knew that she would have been laughing five minutes in, it was kind of nice to just sit sometimes too. It wasn't something she would normally be too comfortable with but somehow Aubrey made it comfortable.

"She's adorable," she finally said.

"She is."

"Do you think it's weird that we agree about that?"

"Weird? Well. We wouldn't be in this situation if we didn't agree that Chloe is adorable, right?"

"You're adorable too, you know." Immediately Beca's eyes went wide as she mouthed to herself a silent ' _what the fuck_?' She hadn't meant to say that. It had just happened. She pulled the phone away from her ear for a second, bouncing her forehead off the window.

Aubrey's silence lasted a full five seconds before she said softly, "Thank you."

"No problem," Beca replied in a sharp, tangled squeak.

Hearing that Aubrey paused again. "Beca-"

"So, do you think we're really going to do this?" She said fast, cutting Aubrey off.

Another silence. "I don't see what other choices we have, Beca."

She thought about that for a minute, worrying her lip, "Well, I mean like, this is something you _want_ , right? I mean," she huffed, "Chloe - we - I dunno, no one is making you or pressuring you or anything, right?"

"No, Beca," Aubrey laughed a little again. "No one is pressuring me. I - I want to. A lot. I - I miss you."

Beca pressed her forehead a little firmer into the glass, trying to cool its blushing heat. She could feel butterflies twirling and spinning in her stomach and she had to admit that she didn't hate the feeling, despite her record winning level of awkward a moment before. "I uh," she knew she should probably say something but the blush just took over some more and she let out an awkward laugh, bouncing her forehead once more.

"I don't think we can continue on as friends now that we have all admitted that we remember. Perhaps the smartest thing to do would be for one of us to back away so that the other two have the room to date but," she heard Aubrey sigh, "I think that maybe it's a little selfish of me, but I don't want to."

"No," Beca agreed after a minute, "neither do I. But yeah, the kissing changed things." Beca was still blushing and was so thankful that Aubrey couldn't see her. "And don't get me wrong, the kissing was good."

"Yeah." Aubrey said in a voice that Beca had never heard before, " _The kissing was good_."

Beca's mouth popped open, her exhale of surprise fogging the glass.

She had literally never heard Aubrey's voice like that – like – a _purr_ – like maybe she was a little - like she was turned on - that was - holy shit. "Uh," it had come out uneven and squeaky, making Aubrey laugh a little. Beca bit her lip, pressing her too hot face to a new and cooler part of the glass as she grinned and asked, "So you liked it, huh?"

"Beca!" Aubrey cried, but she was laughing and still there was that new thing in her voice, that intimacy. "Don't make fun of me, please."

"Oh, I'm not." She couldn't help the huge grin she knew she was sporting. If doing this weird dating thing meant she got to hear Aubrey like this then she was down. Idly she wondered what Chloe's voice would sound like, would she sound light and sweet like this or would she be someone to get all deep and gravelly? She was willing to bet that she would - oh god; she pressed her cheek fully to the cold window.

"Are you okay, Beca?"

"What?" She sat up straight, "Yeah! Yeah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I just uh, it's weird, that's all." That seemed like a better answer than she had been wondering about their sex voices.

"I suppose life really is filled with weird situations."

Beca just made a noncommittal sound, still trying to get her cheeks to cool.

"If we're going to do this then we need to be as open as possible."

"Yeah. I think that's the only way this is going to work."

"Maybe," Aubrey paused, "we should call Chloe?"

Beca cleared her throat, a grin building. "She's going to be _so_ excited." Honestly, she was pleased by that, she liked the idea that they were about to do something that would make Chloe as happy as it was going to.

"Are _you_ pleased, Beca?"

She felt her eyes pop as she tried to think of exactly how to answer that. Uneasily she scratched her fingers through her hair, "Well." she finally managed, "Yeah. Wait, are you?"

"Yes."

Beca gave a nod, "Alright then. Let's uh, let's call Chloe."

They added Chloe to the call a few minutes later, both laughing when Chloe answered the phone with a gasp.

"Is this just Aubrey or is this both of you?"

"It's both of us." Beca laughed.

"Yay!" Chloe cried, the vocal impersonation of her whole body I'm happy shake that she did. "How are your Thanksgivings?"

Beca just groaned, secretly loving the accent that was suddenly thick in Chloe. She knew that Aubrey was a big fan too and neither understood why Chloe was so embarrassed by it so in silent mutual agreement, neither mentioned it.

"So, what have you two been talking about?"

"Well." They both could hear Chloe go silent, all but holding her breath. "We decided that we're going to do this. We are going to - date." Aubrey said it as though she were agreeing to a business deal.

"What? Yes!" Chloe squealed, making Beca yelp. "You're kidding? Wait, you're not kidding, are you?"

"No, we're not kidding."

"Oh my gosh, guys! We are going to have so much fun! Just you wait!"

They spent a while on the phone then, going over their thoughts on openness and of course Chloe agreed entirely.

Beca got off the phone twenty minutes later feeling a little dizzy.

She had a date - a _date_ with Chloe for the following night after Beca got back into town, Chloe and Aubrey were set up for Saturday and finally she and Aubrey for Sunday.

And it was weird, yeah, but maybe she was game.

* * *

Beca left her dad's house bright and early the next morning, vowing to herself that she would skip Christmas with the family this year and maybe schedule a root canal for that day instead.

She was surprised to find that she was nervous when she got back to her apartment, which was strange because she didn't often get nervous about dates. Maybe she got a little bit of jitters or something but genuinely nervous was not really her thing. She tended to be a little more confident than that. It went along with that whole 'other fish in the sea' thing. The problem was that in this case there _weren't_ other fish in the sea. She was pretty sure that she could comb the planet and never find another Chloe - or Aubrey - and so she was nervous.

Maybe it didn't help either that her dad's constant droning on the night before and over breakfast that morning had given her a lot of time to think.

Which was good - and bad.

She had spent the entire time thinking about Aubrey and Chloe, what she liked about them, what their dates would be, if she would be allowed to maybe kiss them post date. She had spent the night tossing and turning in the guest room and perhaps it was the delirium but by the next morning she wasn't so sure if this was really as weird as she had originally thought. After all, dating was never monogamous in the beginning, right? It was just that they happened to know who the other was dating.

So that was good. There would be no accidentally running into your other date at the grocery store and having that awkward 'oh, her? She's just a friend' situation that no one was ever fooled by.

The bad part? She had also realized just _how much_ she liked them.

So - nerves. She was feeling nerves.

Being nervous was not going to help anything, though. The more nervous she was the more likely she was to say something stupid so instead of dwelling, she climbed into her bed as soon as she was home and picked up one of the eight books that were still stacked beside her bed. The binding was broken on all of them at this point, having been read more than once but the binding of 'Anne of Green Gables' specifically was cracked and well worn. She had liked all of the books, but this one was her favorite.

She tried to sink into reading for a while, but the problem was the books just reminded her of her night. Each time she saw the name 'Carrots' come up she laughed and wondered just what Chloe would do if she called her that.

It wasn't working.

Frustrated and now more nervous than ever, she got up and threw her concentration into work to distract herself for the afternoon. She had already been hired for one of the many Christmas parades happening around the city on Christmas Day as well as a few small side gigs for just after the holiday and for New Year's Eve.

Sooner rather than later though it was time for her to get ready.

Chloe hadn't told her where they were going that night, something that Beca thought was weird because she had always been more of the date planner and less of the show up at this time type. She had asked her what she should wear and had been annoyed when Chloe had just said 'something comfortable'. That could mean literally anything. Did that mean something formal but comfortable? Did that mean pajamas? She had no idea so she had thrown on her nicest pair of jeans, a blouse, jacket, and heeled boots. Hopefully that was enough of an in between for all of it.

She didn't bother trying to find a parking spot when she picked Chloe up, instead she pulled over as much as she could while double parked and rang the buzzer for Chloe's apartment.

Chloe came skipping down the stairs a few minutes later, her cheeks pink and her eyes twinkling. "Hi!"

Beca couldn't help but to smile. It was so strange because she saw her constantly, right? So it shouldn't seem like she hadn't seen her in a year or more. Then again, she supposed that she hadn't seen her in like two weeks and even that hadn't been like normal. She had missed her.

For just a moment she wished that Aubrey was there too. Whatever weird drama thing they were doing as a trio, they needed to make sure that they didn't let it get in the way of hanging out anymore. She was not a fan of missing them. "Hey."

They stood for a second, just looking at one another, Beca unsure exactly what was the proper etiquette here. Did she hug her? Did she kiss her? If she did should it be a first date kind of kiss or a you've-already-touched-my-boobs kind of kiss?

Finally Chloe pushed forward, seeming to decide to take the matter into her own hands.

For one shining moment Beca was sure she _was_ going to kiss her; her heart leapt into her throat while her stomach turned to melted butter, but Chloe just wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad that we're doing this." She said and then gave her a large, lip smacking kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," Beca smirked at her a little abashedly, "Me too." And before she could say anything stupid or weird, "Come on, I'm double parked."

Chloe gave a nod, taking her hand like she always did until they reached the car and she had to let go.

"So. Where are we going?"

Chloe grinned, "Hop on ten west and I'll tell you how to get there."

"If I ask nicely will you tell me now?"

"Nope."

"Fine."

* * *

"Bowling?" Beca frowned as she glanced through the driver's side window. It wasn't that she was going to complain. She liked bowling enough and she was sure that Chloe would have some magical way of making pretty much anything fun, but she just hadn't expected _bowling_.

"Not just bowling."

"Oh. Uh, 'kay."

"Oh my god!" Chloe rolled her eyes and took her hand. "Come on, grumpy!"

It turned out that the big secret place was actually kind of cool. It wasn't a normal bowling alley. Instead they walked in and Beca saw that in proper New Orleans fashion, it wasn't just one type of place. It was a live music venue, with a bar, food, and a few lanes for bowling.

"Okay, this seems more your style," Beca admitted, letting Chloe pull her along to the front desk.

"Hi, one lane and two pairs of shoes, please."

Beca frowned as the shoes were plopped into her hand. They were stiff and awkward as though they had been chemically cleaned one time too many.

This was how diseases were spread.

She glanced at Chloe but apparently the shoes didn't weird Chloe out at all.

"Can you _imagine_ Aubrey having to put these shoes on?"

"Oh my god!" Beca laughed. "No, I really can't. She would be so miserable."

"I don't know if she would do it."

"Dude, I'm not sure if _I'm_ going to do it. Um, hi," she frowned at the man behind the desk, "can I have one without the weird mystery stain. Awesome, thanks."

Laughing a little at Beca's expense, Chloe looped her arm through her own and started them toward lane six.

"So. I don't want to brag or anything," Chloe said with a smile as she plopped down beside their lane, "but I'm about to kick your ass. I hope you're ready for it, Mitchell."

"Oh yeah," she smirked. She liked this silly side to Chloe and now that she actually knew it was indeed flirting, she kind of loved it. "You feeling pretty confident there, Beale?"

"Totes." Chloe grinned as Beca reached for her hand.

Beca hadn't been a huge fan of public dancing before Chloe came into her life but, like a lot of things about Chloe, you pretty much had to learn to adjust. Trying to calm Chloe when she loved something was like trying to stop a tsunami or like taking a toy away from a puppy.

Chloe _loved_ to dance and therefore - Beca danced. The band had just started a new song and this _was_ a date after all. She gave her the best charming smirk she had, the one she had seen Chloe double take at over and over again and pulled her to her feet, ignoring the fact that Chloe had one bowling shoe on. "So then the real question is," she said as she spun Chloe out and then back in, "what do I get if it turns out that _I_ actually kick _your_ ass?"

Chloe bit her lip and the look she gave Beca was enough to turn her to putty.

She huffed in some air because she was pretty sure that her body did still need that. That look on Chloe's face was enough to give anyone a fucking heart attack.

"And if you win?" She squawked from her suddenly dry throat.

Chloe's look didn't change at all.

"Heh, I gotta - I gotta sit down."

Chloe just let out a peal of laughter, pulling her in and burying her nose into Beca's neck in a way that really did not help the sudden pins and needles that had blossomed all over her skin.

"Are we allowed to do that?" She asked, her brain still a little foggy when she sat down to pull on the shoes.

"Do what?"

"I dunno, um, anything that, um, that _look_ hinted at?"

Chloe gave her a small hip bump in a silent scoot over, her look thoughtful, "I don't know. We didn't talk about that, did we? Do you think it matters?"

"No." Beca shook her head slowly, "I mean we all made out before, right? Plus, the whole point of this is to _date_ , right?"

Chloe's teeth caught her bottom lip, "That's true." her shoulder playfully bumped against Beca's, "And the _best_ dates always include a little bit of making out in the backseat."

Beca's mouth went dry as she took in the look on Chloe's face, the sudden intensity of her crystal blue eyes. "So um," She tried to form better words but she couldn't seem to unstick her brain.

"Yeah?"

She was so close, her shoulder gently pushing into Beca's, her thigh pressed tightly against her own and Beca knew she was just staring stupidly at her lips. She knew that she probably looked like an idiot but she couldn't think. Well no, she was thinking alright. She was thinking about Chloe's hands on her ass as their lips tangled, she was thinking about the way that she had been able to hear Aubrey's labored breathing beside them, she was thinking about the way that Chloe had pulled her in tighter like she was trying to get Beca to press herself into her. She was remembering how her jeans had felt like the biggest obstacle in the world at that moment.

She opened her mouth and, oh no, she could feel it. She could feel it coming. She was going to word vomit something stupid. Crap. "I need to clean out my car!" She blurted.

Fuck.

Well.

At least it wasn't 'have you ever tried cheese'.

Chloe's huge doe eyes widened for a second, clearly not expecting that – if she expected anything at all. Then her look settled back into one of mischief, "No need, Bec. There's always up against the side of the car too."

Beca knew she had made a sound but she had no idea what it had been.

Damn it.

She was really striking out on the whole cool, keeping herself together thing.

Fuck.

The band behind them panged out their last note and Beca blinked, pulled from her daze.

"You know what I think we need?"

"Hmm?" Beca's eyebrows pulled together, concentrating too hard on her words.

"I think we need some cheap beer and some hot wings."

"Mmm."

She tried to clear her head while Chloe was gone. She stood and ran her hands through her hair, taking a deep, slow breath and then another as she paced. Should she have shaved her legs? No, right? Like, this was still a weird situation and, she didn't know, but sex should probably wait until the weird situation had been worked out, right? She didn't know, but she was sure she would have felt better just then if her legs weren't prickly.

She turned and noticed the men at the next lane over were watching her, all grinning and giving her the thumbs up.

"That one's a firecracker!" The oldest called over.

Beca scowled, one hundred percent freaked out and sat to pull her shoes on.

* * *

It only took another hour for Beca to realize that this was a _great_ fucking date. Of course it was! Chloe was great. It was fun and easy. They ate greasy food, drank cheap beer, and danced until they were breathless.

It was great. The energy was great.

She loved the way that she and Chloe hit it off this way.

It was just so easy with her.

"Dude, did you hear that last song?" Beca called when Chloe came back from a surprisingly perfect bowl. "Aubrey would have loved it!"

"Oh my god, I was thinking the same thing. That blonde over there kind of looks like her so that was totes where my mind went."

Beca scrutinized the woman that Chloe had pointed out. She was tall, yeah, and thin and everything but, "I don't know, maybe a little. It's hard to say since we've only seen Aubrey with her hair down once."

"Oh my god though!" Chloe dramatically groaned, passing over a wing from their _third_ plate. "I thought I was going to die that day."

Beca couldn't help but to laugh at herself. She had been absolutely dumbfounded when Aubrey had answered the door. "You know I actually thought I had gone to the wrong side of the duplex for a second."

"What?"

"No seriously! She opened the door and I freaking apologized. I literally didn't even recognize her." And once she realized that she hadn't gone to the wrong place she had just stood there and stared, her mouth hanging open and wondering if Aubrey would let her touch it - with both hands - while her lips were on her throat.

"Ohmygod," Chloe cackled, stomping her feet and laughing with relish, "what did she _say_?"

"She looked like she was going to hit me. I dunno. I felt so bad! I told her I liked it and that it was hot. Which, she kind of didn't like."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't mean to. It just sort of, I dunno, sometimes I do this thing where words just come flying out of my mouth. Err, kind of like, um, needing to clean out my car." Chloe just gave a small giggle. "I think I pissed her off! I don't think I was supposed to say that."

"O.M.G," Chloe cried through her mouthful of food, her clean hand clutching Beca's wrist, "She _was_ , though!"

"I know, right?"

"So hot."

"I couldn't fucking believe it. Like, she's usually so -" but then her smile faded as she realized, "We're talking about Aubrey. Again." This wasn't exactly the first time she had noticed that.

"What?" It took a second but then comprehension dawned across Chloe's face and her smile became uncertain too. "Oh," she dropped what was left of her wing on the paper plate and wiped her lips, leaving a small streak of red sauce that Beca wanted to reach out and wipe away with her thumb. "I'm sorry, I - I didn't mean -"

"No!" Beca had to stop her before she even began. "I was doing it too." She frowned uncertainly. What did it mean that they had been talking about Aubrey all night? Did it mean anything at all? They _were_ all friends. Good friends even. And weird or not they were in this together. It made sense that everything reminded them of her, right?

It took her a second to realize that they had stopped talking, and with that she looked up and saw Chloe already watching her, the look on her face uncharacteristically sad and Beca knew that in that moment they were thinking the same thing. It was a great fucking date. It was almost a perfect fucking date and yet, there was this - _thing_ missing. They had spent time together without Aubrey before, and yeah, maybe not a lot of it, but it had happened. Still…

"This is weird."

She watched Chloe nod, saw the confusion on her face and felt her own stab of worry. What if this was really just about the fact that Chloe liked Aubrey more? That was possible, right? They had a totally different dynamic than she and Chloe did and they were always fighting, which was probably passion based, right? She didn't know; she was still getting used to the idea that Aubrey wanted either of them at all. So, what if that was the thing? What if Chloe just liked Aubrey more?

She didn't like that thought. As a matter of fact, she wanted to get as far away from that thought as possible so she gave a laugh, not because anything was funny but because she didn't know what else to do. "Maybe we should just trade off with Aubrey. Like, alternate weekends or something."

" _You don't mean that._ "

Beca winced, the tone of Chloe's soft voice cutting her down to the bone. Guilt-ridden she shook her head, finally reaching over and wiping Chloe's lip clean. "No," she admitted, "I don't mean that. It was - supposed to be - bad joke. Sorry."

"What about you and me?" Chloe asked in the same small, hurt voice.

Beca opened her mouth but she had literally nothing to say.

She wanted that. She wanted there to be a Beca and Chloe. Just as much as she wanted there to be a Beca and Aubrey. Which… _how? And weird._ How could she literally want both things? That wasn't how life worked and she was getting mad at herself. This was bullshit.

Chloe's face had grown serious, sad, and seeing it Beca felt a rush of tenderness. Yeah, maybe they connected through playfulness but under that she could suddenly feel the rushing swell of emotion, of connection.

She closed her mouth, her stomach boiling.

This was how hearts get broken and friendships get ruined, she thought. There was literally no way for someone to not get hurt.

"Hey," Chloe pulled her chin around and much to Beca's surprise gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "let's not do this, okay? Let's - let's just have our time and we'll see what happens, okay? Come on. Come dance with me. Please?"

Beca was already starting to smile again as Chloe pulled her up.

* * *

"Oh come on!" Beca wailed, her body crumpling as she fell to her knees, her legs splayed out below her. "Why?" She watched yet another ball roll into the gutter like that was where it lived, like it was totally supposed to be there. "Dude!"

"I'm telling you, Bec, we can get bumpers." They had come in around dinner time and now that it was nearing ten the scene had changed. Chloe, as it turned out, had been going easy on her and now...well, she was losing at a humiliating rate.

"You know what?" She shouted back over her shoulder, "We can't all be freaky bowling wizards. 'Kay?"

Chloe just gave a smug little shrug, sipping her beer, "I told you I was gonna kick your ass."

Beca spluttered at her, crumpling forward and letting her forehead hit the smooth polished flooring. "You suck."

Chloe just laughed, "Next round is on you."

"Fine." She growled, standing so Chloe could take her turn.

The date had definitely gotten back to awesome, despite their dip in the middle. It helped that Chloe was a ball of excitement all night, swaying her hips to the music and making Beca laugh more than she thought was possible. Aubrey hadn't come up again, though Beca had more than once had her name on the tip of her tongue when she stopped herself. She was pretty sure it had been the same way for Chloe. Either way, the two had wordlessly decided that they weren't going to bring their friend up again, at least not tonight.

Chloe all but skipped to retrieve her ball, gave it a toss as if it were nothing and got a perfect strike.

"The hell? How?"

"I'm from Sugar Land," was all Chloe said.

Beca went to get the next round of beer and was still scowling when she came back.

"Oh come on!" Chloe laughed, "Come on, I'll show you." She pulled Beca over to her ball and plopped it back in her hands. "Ready?"

"No."

"Do you want to get better?"

"No."

"Well then I think we need to stop betting on the next round because you're going to be broke pretty quickly here."

"Shut up."

"Oh come on!"

Beca just scowled a bit moodily as Chloe pulled her in close so that she could show her how to move.

"Okay so,"

Beca shivered. She had been doing a lot of that tonight. She wasn't saying that Chloe was totally playing with that reaction or anything, but somehow she kept finding these situations where she had to be close to Beca for this reason or that. Like this one. "See how you're holding your thumb?" She spoke into her ear, wrapping around her though it was only Beca's hand that needed to change.

"Mmm," she smirked, tossing a look over her shoulder.

Chloe just grinned back at her.

"So, what you want to do," but Beca was shaking her head. "What's wrong?"

"I literally can't think when you're doing that?"

"Doing what?"

Beca's eyebrow just popped and the hand which had snaked its way under Beca's shirt did not still its course up and down the small of her back.

"I can't help it. You're so...touchable."

Beca's cheeks flushed, though she couldn't have said if it was embarrassment or something a little more - bodily. "Uh huh." She blinked, feeling her stomach dipping and curving as the nails continued their mind numbing trail.

"So. See how your thumb is pointing that way?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded, fully aware that she wasn't paying any more attention than she had a second ago.

Chloe grinned, her face triumphant as Beca's eyes traced the throat that was so close to her. This was Chloe's fault. _She_ was the one who had mentioned the back seat of her car. If she couldn't get that image from her mind then it was Chloe's own fault.

Finally Chloe's hand paused, flattening on her back and letting Beca's mind clear. "Better?"

"Little bit."

"Okay good. Because right now your game is just sad."

"Ohmygod,fuckoff," Beca groaned, turning to walk away but Chloe caught her by the belt.

Grudgingly Beca listened to Chloe's instructions, ignoring the look of delight on her face.

"Okay, go!" She grinned when she was done, bouncing back and waiting.

Beca just shook her head. This woman was going to be the death of her.

She pulled her arm back as Chloe had just shown her and threw the ball.

"YES!" Chloe screamed and though every eye had turned to them after her shout, she still launched herself at Beca the moment the ball hit the pins knocking them all down, jumping into her arms as though she was the one who had just gotten the strike.

Beca yelped, catching her and instantly sure that she loved having Chloe wrapped around her like this.

"See!" Chloe cried, "You don't suck!"

"Oh my god!" Beca dropped her, making Chloe cackle as she landed gracefully. "That is - ugh -"

But Chloe caught her, laughter still on her face and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. "There," she said when she let her go, "now it really _is_ a date."

Beca just rolled her eyes, her heart hammering in her chest. "Shut up."

They played one more game before the humiliation of defeat was too much for Beca and they called it a night, arguing over the tab and then eventually splitting it.

"I'm not ready to go home yet," Chloe said as they walked out into the chilly night air.

"Oh yeah?" Beca sent her a grin, unlocking the car.

"Yeah." Chloe gave a nod as she swung their intertwined hands. "How do you feel about ice cream?"

Beca grinned.

They drove in a comfortable silence, something that was so rare around Chloe.

Okay, perhaps it wasn't so totally comfortable.

Okay so, maybe the tension going through Beca's body was going to make her hit a parked car soon if she wasn't careful. Chloe wasn't really doing anything. Not really. She was simply running her finger up and down the arm that was resting on the center console, all the way from wrist to elbow and back. That was all. She was barely touching her and yet.

She shot Chloe a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, wondering if she knew that was driving her crazy. She had to know, right? She always knew. She had to at least notice that Beca had very specifically not moved a muscle in that arm since she had started, right?

Chloe, however, seemed entirely oblivious to Beca's plight. She was humming a little bit to herself as she watched the scenery go by, her chin bobbing to the music in her head.

"Okay, we're here!" She announced rather needlessly and then frowned.

Chloe grinned right back, "We are, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Beca!" Chloe called after her as she started to pull herself from the car.

"Shutup!"

"Bec!"

"Shutup,shutup!" Beca cried as she made her away around the car to meet her. She was blushing and yet she couldn't help but to feel a little giddy at Chloe's teasing.

She felt Chloe's hand on her wrist as she got out, still laughing.

"Hey, you never know!" Beca scoffed. "You might have been really confused if I hadn't said anything."

"Yeah! Yeah, of course. Thank you for-" and then Chloe's words cut off as Beca suddenly turned into her and caught her in a kiss.

The words fell into a muffled grunt, the laughter still on Chloe's lips.

Beca wasn't sure if she was supposed to do it or not. She wasn't sure where they had landed on kissing on these dates but it was just on her mind and - she gave a small yank and Chloe barreled into her, letting out a titter of laughter as her arms slid willingly around Beca's neck. And it felt so good to kiss her again, without the alcohol that is. She had amazing lips. Her lips were just...good.

Beca had just meant to kiss her, a simple kiss but suddenly she was pushing her backward so that her back hit the side of the car – just like Chloe had promised – and Beca's mind went a little blank.

"Shit." Chloe gasped, breaking the chaste kiss.

Beca's eyebrows popped. Chloe didn't swear often, she was a little more colorful than that; somebody wasn't an asshole, they were a jerkface or a buffoon; things like that. Hearing her swear now - "What's wrong?"

Chloe sucked on her own bottom lip, her fingers coming up to trace where Beca's lips had just been, her eyes dark and hooded. "Nothing," she shook out her red mane of hair, "I, uh,"

And then Beca was kissing her again and it wasn't like before. Chloe was pinned to the side of her Fusion as Beca pressed, her tongue slipping past Chloe's lips and making her gasp, making her respond in kind. Kissing Chloe was like kissing fire, all fast dips and pressure. She couldn't help it when her hands found the small of her back, pulling her in and the press of her body was maddeningly awesome. The way she thrust into her mouth, pushing and taking, reacting like she knew everything that Beca was going to do before she did it; kissing Chloe felt like sex, hot and wild.

"Fuck." Beca gasped when she needed to breathe.

"Mmm, yes, please." Chloe grinned, making Beca blankly mutter the same thing over again.

"That was fun."

"Mmmm. We should go inside before they close."

"'Kay."

But Chloe kissed her again and then again, her hands caught in Beca's lapel and pulling her in.

"In-side," Chloe finally mumbled when Beca had released her. "I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be inside." She was sagging a little, a fact that Beca was proud of, it almost felt as though it was only Beca who was fully holding her upright and that was awesome.

Chloe gave a little throaty giggle, her mouth hovering just beside Beca's and Beca thought she might implode. "Let's go get some ice cream. Cool ya down a pinch."

"That-" Beca gave a nod, "is probably a good idea."

The shop was cool, filled with various artisan flavors and toppings. Chloe immediately ordered some type of berry explosion thing and, hand in Beca's, followed her as she looked through the choices.

"Awe," Chloe pouted and pointed to the blueberry lavender, "That sounds like Bree, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, weirdly it does."

Chloe took a deep breath. "Am I allowed to miss her on our date? What does it mean that I miss her? Oh god, and please don't think that means I haven't been having fun or that tonight hasn't been pretty much the best date ever. Like - shoot, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Beca scowled. She waited to be offended, only, the thing was the pale purplish blue ice cream did somehow look like Aubrey. It reminded her of that back room, her back den that had been like seeing a little bit of Aubrey's inner self. Chloe's kiss had been amazing, but she had wondered just as they were heading inside, what kissing Aubrey sober would be like. She was thinking of Aubrey too. "Let's bring her some."

"What?"

"Ice cream. Yeah. I mean," she knew it wasn't what they should be doing. She _knew_ that ending their _date_ at Aubrey's place was probably not the best idea. It wasn't going to help anything but the truth was she knew they had been missing their friend and she _wanted_ to go over. She wanted to pour some cool water over that burn. "Why not, right?"

Chloe grinned slowly, her eyes flicking over Beca's face before she nodded. "Okay."

They hadn't even thought about the fact that Aubrey might be asleep at this point, not until they were letting themselves into the gate.

"Let's try anyway?"

They rang the doorbell and waited.

Luckily a few seconds later the porch light switched on and the door opened, leaving the security gate thoroughly locked and in place.

It seemed as though Aubrey had only just arrived home from work, which didn't make any sense at all. Her hair was still tied up tightly and she was still in her usual business suit, only she had a pencil behind her ear and her shoes were off.

"Bree, I'm pretty sure you would satisfy any school boys sexy teacher fantasy," Chloe laughed as soon as the door was opened, her teeth worrying her lip.

"Guys! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

Beca shrugged, "We have ice cream."

"You have-" Aubrey repeated, confused and then trailed off.

"Can we come in?" Chloe asked in her most innocent voice, her chin resting on Beca's shoulder.

Aubrey let them in looking flustered. "Sorry, everything is a mess, I know." She sighed, walking them back to the den.

Beca laughed, only Aubrey would think the stack of paperwork on her coffee table was 'a mess'.

"I was working late and," Aubrey cleared her throat, making it bob like perhaps she didn't feel totally great. "Ice cream sounds good. Sit down and I'll get some spoons."

"We have those little plastic ones!" Chloe announced, grabbing her and pulling her down onto the couch.

Beca watched her do it but her thoughts were elsewhere.

Tension was radiating off of Aubrey in palpable waves. They hadn't seen her that tense in a while, they hadn't seen her pressed so properly, or with her back that straight.

It made Beca want to pull her clothes off of her and get to the layers of casual that had to be hidden somewhere between her skin and her soul.

And that thought made her think. Though the other two were chatting over the ice cream, swapping samples, Beca was zoned out, her mouth slightly ajar. She was thinking about kissing them again, she was thinking about touching them as she had a little bit that night, tentatively over the shirt and bra. She had thought of them like that a lot, and always together. She had always thought about them like that together...but she hadn't allowed herself to think of them naked. She hadn't let herself think about how their opposing colors would look on her white sheets, Aubrey's blonde hair and Chloe's red, Aubrey's slightly golden pale skin and Chloe's warm peach, Aubrey who is all leg and Chloe who is all stomach.

If Chloe kissed like fire then how would Aubrey kiss? Would she be tentative and soft or would she take over, controlling the situation and demanding Beca to mold to her will?

"What are you thinking about over there?"

Beca jumped, choking on her ice cream. "What? Nothing!" and hoped she seemed innocent.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Beca**_

* * *

Beca was a fucking wreck. Like, it wasn't cute, it wasn't funny. She was literally a total fucking wreck.

She hadn't thought it would be like this. She had been fine the night before. She had been fine when she had dropped Chloe back off at home. She had been fine when she had brushed her teeth and gotten into bed. _She had been fine._

She had not been fine when she woke the next morning. She had opened her eyes and suddenly her brain had screamed at her 'CHLOE AND AUBREY HAVE A DATE TODAY' and she had been a mess since then.

And you know what else?

It _did_ matter.

That was fucking for sure.

Yeah.

It fucking mattered.

Like a lot.

Yesterday when she had been the one on the date she hadn't seen any harm in kissing or...against the car making out...but _she had been wrong_. So fucking wrong.

She realized this about halfway through breakfast when, despite the fact that she was sitting in her at-home studio where she was _supposed_ to be working, she was instead staring blankly at her computer screen and picturing Aubrey up against the car like Chloe had been, or hidden in the corner of a bookshop, or in the middle of Jackson Square.

The image had propelled her up and into her car.

"Who the fuck am I more jealous of?" She shouted at the red light that was in her way of getting from point A to point B. "The _FUACK?_ "

She had tried to work at Mardi Gras World, hopeful that the chaos there would help her, only it hadn't. She put on her huge headphones and blasted some old school Ladytron but that only made it worse. It turns out when you're total chaos and panic on the inside, surrounding yourself with chaos on the outside doesn't really help anything.

Amy had come in at one point, looking worried as soon as she saw her but Beca's bad mood had scared her friend off almost instantly.

Fuck!

Now that she was the odd man out, she was miserable.

She hadn't understood why Aubrey was working so late the night before. She was a little bit of a workaholic but not to that point. Now suddenly it made sense.

She couldn't get her thoughts to stop swirling around all day in an absolute panic. One of them had to be the odd man out, right? That was the point of this. Let's just be blunt here, two of them were going to walk away from this weird ass clusterfuck of a situation as girlfriends while the other sat at home by themselves with a case of beer and wondering why they had even gotten involved in that weird threesome in the first place. One of them was going to come out the loser and what if that was her? What if _she_ was the one to sit by herself while Aubrey and Chloe rode off into the sunset. And sure - yay them and everything - but ouch.

Beca finally went home sometime in the late afternoon because she wasn't getting anything done. She got into the shower because at least that was comforting, only to feel frustrated and get into the shower again an hour later.

She wanted to text them. She wanted to see how it had gone - wait, _how_ it was going… How it was going. She wanted to see how it was going. The thing was, Aubrey hadn't texted them so she couldn't either.

Instead, she put on some music as loud as it could go and paced the house.

What she hadn't expected was for Aubrey and Chloe to show up at her door in the early evening. She hadn't even realized they knew where she lived.

"Oh my god, hi!" She might have hugged them both a little too tightly.

It turned out that they had gone on a late morning date, antiquing around town and had found a Fats Domino LP that they wanted to give her.

"Put on your shoes," Chloe insisted. "We're going for dinner."

Instead of questioning why both dates thus far had ended with the three of them, Beca rushed to do what she was told.

* * *

Beca was a nervous mess again the next morning and she was beginning to wonder how the fuck she was supposed to continue on like this. The whole situation was nerve-wracking.

She didn't know what the plan with Aubrey was. She had hinted, very casually, that she had a plan for the following day while they were out to dinner. That plan, however, once again hadn't been divulged to her so she was more than a little surprised when someone was knocking at her door at noon.

"Bree?" She had thrown open the door in surprise and then immediately wished that she had thought to put on a sweater over her pajamas or something. "Early. You're, uh, you're early."

"You're not dressed yet, Beca? It's already well into the afternoon!"

"No," she corrected stiffly, "It's _noon_. There is a very big difference." She cleared her throat, closing her arms around herself and, when Aubrey's back was turned, rushing to try and fix her matted hair, wincing as she ripped her fingers through it. "You wanna come in?"

"You know," Aubrey noted as she took in the bare walls of the apartment, "we haven't spent any time here, have we?"

"Mmm," was all that Beca said.

"Do you mind?" She asked, pointing toward the door leading to the next room of the shotgun.

"No, uh, go ahead."

"Oh." Aubrey awkwardly paused inside the door of the other room, taking in the bed and the TV.

"Oh." Beca cleared her throat, grabbing the sweater that was tossed on her bed and pulling it on.

"I'm sorry, I assumed, usually this style of house puts the bedrooms in the-" but then Aubrey's voice faded out, taking in the strangeness of the room.

"Yeah." The style of the house was a much less nice and much more cookie cutter version of Aubrey's which meant that one room led straight into the other in a line, only unlike Aubrey's home where there were no doors, only open passageways, each room of Beca's place was closed off with a cheap door; every room that is except the one that was supposed to be the living room. The front door opened onto what Beca was sure was supposed to be a bedroom, then it was the living room followed by an offshoot to the bathroom, the kitchen, and another bedroom. For her, however, it went random room with nothing in it, bedroom/living room, kitchen, and studio. "The neighborhood isn't bad but the day I moved in the neighbor had been robbed. It's supposed to be two bedrooms but I don't really feel comfortable leaving anything in the room that people can see when I open the door. And I needed a room to work out of. So that meant that I had to make the living room my bedroom." She was speaking, explaining the weirdness of her setup but alarm bells were going off in her mind all screaming: 'AUBREY POSEN IS IN MY BEDROOM! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!'

"I see."

Beca gave her a slightly awkward smile, "Sorry I don't have a better place to sit but um, you're welcome to take a seat on the bed. I know it's weird but I never have anyone over. Even you guys. Your place is just so much nicer and Chloe's is more convenient. I probably should get a couch for that front room at least or something. I don't know," she was rambling, "or," she turned fast, trying to readjust to the image of Aubrey sitting on her bed, "Or, shit, should I be getting dressed? Like, are we leaving soon?" Oh my god, Beca, shut up! She snapped her mouth shut. Why was she so nervous? She was so much more nervous for this date than she had been for Chloe! Which made her want to roll her eyes because _of course_ she was. Chloe, in the end would probably be satisfied with, well, bar food and bowling whereas Aubrey had called Chloe a bitch five minutes after meeting her.

"Beca," Aubrey frowned, "are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, just, uh," she groaned, scratching at her scalp and sighing, "just nervous."

Aubrey studied her for a moment, "Were you this nervous with Chloe?"

"Errr,"

"I see."

"Bree! It's not," but Aubrey just held up her hand to silence her.

"Yes, Bec, why don't you get dressed?"

Bec? She was sure that Aubrey had never called her that before.

"Okay, but like - how?"

"Dress for the outdoors."

Beca did, copying Aubrey's tennis shoes and light jacket.

New Orleans had finally - _finally_ \- started to cool down. It was now the last week in November and the hot weather had cooled to an at least civil 65°.

"So where are we going?" Beca asked as she got into Aubrey's car, realizing that while she had been to her house a few times, she hadn't yet been in her car.

"I was thinking we would go out to Jean Lafitte Preserve."

"Errr, oh!"

"I just thought, you always seem so stressed that something relaxing seemed good."

The huge swamp preserve outside of the city would not have been Beca's first choice - like at all - but she decided not to say that.

"Awesome."

That did mean that they had thirty minutes in the car together both ways. Why did that make her nervous? She had never had an issue with being alone with Aubrey. She actually liked it.

"So." Aubrey started as they pulled out of Beca's neighborhood. "How was your date?"

Oh right. That was why she was nervous. For a moment there she had forgotten.

"Dude."

"What?" Aubrey gave a small high laugh.

"Dude, you're not supposed to ask me that, right? Like, that's not how it's supposed to work? Or, I dunno, isn't that weird?"

"I think that we actually agreed on the opposite, didn't we, Beca?"

Beca glared a little, distracted from her discomfort by the equally uncomfortable thought that she really liked when Aubrey said her name like that, all long and drawn out. "I don't know!" She finally cried. "It was good. I mean, you know. You saw us like right after."

"Yes, but you didn't tell me much about it."

She frowned, "I guess I'm just not sure what to say. It was good. It was a good first date. We bowled. You know, she is a really freaky good bowler. Like, I'm a little suspicious about it."

"Did you kiss?"

" _Dude!_ " She crumpled over, her face in her hands, "Is this really the first thing you want to talk about?"

"We don't have to." Aubrey admitted with a little shoulder shrug, "Have you been to the preserve before?"

"Nope. I hear it's really pretty though and like, huge."

"Yes, so have I. Now. Did you kiss?"

"I don't know, dude, did _you?_ "

"We did."

Beca just stared at Aubrey, stunned. She hadn't actually expected her to answer and she hadn't actually wanted to know. She didn't like it. What had she been doing while Aubrey and Chloe had been making out? Had she been in the shower? Had she been at Mardi Gras World? "Oh." She pulled at the seam of her sleeve for something to do, "Did you - um - was it - did you like - I don't know - have fun?" God, she was the lamest of all lame things.

"Did you?"

"Ohmygod!"

"Alright! Alright. I did."

She didn't like that either.

"Chloe said you kissed her," Aubrey added, sending her a quick side glance.

"Uh, yeah. Well, she kissed me first, um, in the err alley um bowling place but yeah, I guess I did - that."

"Are you going to kiss me?"

Beca's mouth popped open. She hadn't expected that. She hadn't - god, Aubrey was changing, opening up right before her very eyes and she kind of loved it...except right now. "Do you want me to?" It had just popped out but for once her word vomit blurting thing had come out smooth and calm.

Aubrey didn't answer; her jaw, however, tightened for a moment before flexing, crooking to the side in a way that said so much more than a yes or no would have.

Beca just smiled and looked out the window.

The rest of the car ride was uneventful. They spent it talking about Beca's music and the upcoming holidays. As it turned out, Aubrey had been 'summoned', as she called it, back to California for Christmas.

"I think Chloe's going back to Texas. Are you going back to see your father?"

"Oh god, no. That was a mistake and now I don't need to make it again for like five years." She sighed, "No, I think I'm just going to stay here. I have so many gigs that it's probably better anyway."

"So you'll be alone for Christmas?" Aubrey frowned.

"It's better than being with them, trust me." She gave a laugh as she thought, "It's funny to think that we lived so close to one another once, right? Oceanside is like eight hours from San Francisco."

"Actually," Aubrey sighed a little as they finally got out of the car, "I never lived in Oceanside. My father moved there after I was away at school in Boston. My brother lived there for a while but I have only been there once."

"Ugh, of course _Chad_ lived at home in the last few years. How have things been with him? You haven't said anything today."

Aubrey's lips pursed, "I think for today I would prefer to simply pretend he doesn't exist."

"Alright, fair enough."

They started in the visitor center, at Aubrey's insistence, of course, which turned out to be fairly uninteresting for both of them and soon they were stepping out onto the wooden pathways.

The park was strange, or at least, it was strange to someone who was used to 'parks' being large fields of grass filled with eucalyptus trees. The whole area was water, though, it wasn't as though you could tell. The walkways were simple elevated wooden bridges that hovered over the mossy water. She had never seen anything like it, trees and plants growing right out of the water in some places, moss, and every other kind of greenery hiding the water in others. Despite the fact that technically it was winter, everything around them was a bright and healthy green.

She wasn't sure if the wonder she felt inside was showing on her face or if Aubrey just knew, but when she glanced at her Aubrey was looking a little smug.

Beca felt herself blush, embarrassed for how much of a city girl she must look like. "So what's in the backpack?"

"Water mostly. I think it might get warm out here later. I have a picnic in the car for later if we want it but they recommended not bringing it on the trails because it can attract animals."

"Animals?"

"Alligators, I suppose."

" _What?_ " If Beca could have climbed on top of Aubrey's head she would have. As it was she leapt away from one side of the path, only to jump away from the other when it got too close and wrapped herself around Aubrey. Suddenly she was sure she could see round bulbous eyes poking just above the surface all around them, ready to come out and eat their asses.

"Beca!" Aubrey laughed.

"Dude! I'm very small! _I'_ _m_ food!"

"Beca, would I have brought you out here if there was any danger?" Beca frowned, but did not uncurl herself from Aubrey's side. "They bring children out here on school field trips." After a second more Beca let her go, not because she felt safe or anything but because she realized that she was wrapped around Aubrey all Chloe style, invasively closer than Aubrey had given her permission to be.

Aubrey just smiled at her and kept walking. "But we do have to watch out for snakes."

"Dude," she cried. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" She sped up so that at least she wouldn't be alone when she was eaten. "Hey, have you ever noticed that New Orleans really seems like the earth wants to take it back?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, between the floods, the hurricanes, and the freaking scary ass rain. There are roaches the size of cars, fucking black fuzzy caterpillars that fall from trees and _burn_ you, oh and a termite swarm that looks like the fucking locust plague. Maybe NOLA just isn't meant to be inhabited - what?"

Aubrey just smiled and shook her head, "You're cute."

And with that Beca walked on without complaint, though maybe just a little closer to Aubrey - you know, for safety.

They walked in silence for a long time, not uncomfortably but because somehow the greenery all around them simply called for reverence. When they did talk it was mostly observational or about mundane things like the weather, TV, the city, the book that Aubrey was reading. It was simple and yet, it was warm, easy.

Unlike her bowling date they didn't talk about Chloe. That didn't really surprise Beca since she knew that Aubrey was too courteous to talk about another woman on a date. Still when they paused at a viewpoint, silently looking out into the swamp and a huge rainbow dragonfly landed on a wild and bushy orange flower just ahead of them, Beca knew they were both thinking about her. She glanced over and saw Aubrey watching it, a far away look on her face, a gentle smile on her lips and she wasn't offended. In fact, though they had been silent for a while, Beca suddenly felt a little closer to her. Not letting herself think about it, she reached over and let her finger trail over the back of Aubrey's hand on the banister. Aubrey didn't seem surprised; perhaps it was the simple peace the place demanded but Aubrey only turned her head, the happy little smile on her lips growing as Beca tentatively laced her fingers through Aubrey's. They both went back to watching the dragonfly then, Beca with her face turned just enough so that she hoped Aubrey couldn't quite see her goofy grin.

It wasn't until Aubrey suggested they sit for a minute on a bench that they fell into conversation.

"It's beautiful here."

"Mmm," Beca nodded. "I never would have thought of this. Thank you."

Aubrey studied her for a moment, looking down at their interlaced fingers and away fast, as though it either made her happy or very unhappy. "Are you really enjoying it? I wasn't sure-"

"Yeah, I am." She smiled, watching a huge bird fly over them. She would bet that Chloe would have loved it here. Then again, she had told them about a tour out here, hadn't she? This was where she had gone when she had given the pirate enthusiasts their tour. She sent Aubrey a glance out of the corner of her eye. Aubrey was looking up, her face radiant in the afternoon sun. "So, you gonna tell me about work at all?"

Aubrey sighed. "Nothing out of the ordinary to tell, I suppose."

"That's something, anyway."

"Yes, it is."

"Are you looking forward to going home for the holidays?" She had a faint idea that no, Aubrey really wasn't.

Aubrey gave a dry laugh. "Were you looking forward to Thanksgiving."

"That bad, huh?"

Aubrey's answer was so fast that it was clear it was a reflex more than a real answer, "Of course not. I'm just being -"

"Dude," Beca stopped her with a friendly laugh, "you can say it's going to be shitty if you know it's going to be shitty. Of all freaking people I get that."

Aubrey seemed to steel herself, leaning back against the bench though her back stayed straight as a board. "I'm not sure if _shitty_ is the right word as much as uncomfortable. We will all sit down at the dinner table the first night that Chad and I are there and my father will want to know how the business is going. Chad won't know, or at least he won't sound like he knows, so I will answer. Then the General will be angry with me for the rest of the night."

"I just," Beca ran her fingers through her hair, feeling the same hopeless frustration she always felt when they talked about Aubrey's family, "I don't get it."

Aubrey took a minute this time, watching the trees and the flowers bend in the breeze. "I don't think it's really about me," she finally said. "I think it's about Chad. I did everything I was supposed to. I became exactly what he wanted me to. I grew up and I took over my grandmother's business. I am only the _girl_. I wasn't supposed to grow up to be the lawyer or a doctor, I was supposed to grow up to do what I was told. I think it's Chad he's really disappointed in. He was supposed to shine. I think my father had always anticipated that he would follow in his footsteps and join the military. Chad never wanted to. He couldn't. He couldn't withstand it, but I could have, had I wanted to. I think it pains him that I am better at,"

"Everything?" Beca offered.

Aubrey laughed and nodded. "So he takes out his frustration with Chad by ostracizing me." She was thoughtfully quiet for a moment before she sighed and gave her hand a small clap on her thigh, "Or at least that is what my very expensive therapist in Boston used to say. Anyway, what about you, Beca? Why was thanksgiving so hard?"

"Who me? Oh well," Beca scoffed, "I'm a total disappointment, obviously." Aubrey's eyes narrowed but she didn't interrupt, "My dad wanted me to become pretty much anything other than what I did. I think he's still waiting for me to grow up and get a 'real job'."

"He doesn't understand how successful you are?"

"No, because he has no idea how to quantify successful in a field that's not nine to five."

"That's ridiculous."

"Right," Beca shifted uncomfortably. "Except I have this," she groaned, "I guess she's my step-sister. She's barely twenty-two and she just got into Columbia law. So yeah, compared to her, I'm pretty much-"

Aubrey's hand closed on her wrist, "Don't compare yourself."

Beca laughed, "Pot calling the kettle black, much there dude?"

Aubrey let out a loud bark of a laugh.

"It makes me worry about having kids one day, you know? Like, I'm sure my dad didn't set out to be this shitty father. So where does it happen?"

"I don't know, Beca, I think that because you're aware of all of this you'll be a better parent than most." Aubrey chewed her lip for a moment, "Do you want kids?"

"Um," Beca frowned, "I think so? I'm not sure. I always kind of figured find the significant other before I really worry about it. I have like zero interest in being a single parent so, I dunno. I was with this guy for a few years in San Francisco though and I thought I did then."

"Oh yeah? What was he like?"

"No," Beca shook her head. "We're not going to do that thing! No way!"

"What thing?" Aubrey asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"No!"

"Oh come on, Beca!"

"Alright, fine, you tell me about _your_ exes first."

This time Aubrey was the one shifting uncomfortably, though the twinkle didn't leave her eyes, "I don't have much to tell."

"I call bullshit. You forget I've _kissed_ you, Posen."

She had only meant it to be a joke but Aubrey's cheeks went from pink to red to purple as she blushed.

"Oh my god, did I just embarrass you?"

Aubrey turned away from her, laughing a little and dabbing under her eyes like that would somehow make her blush recede.

"Oh my god, really!" She cried, feeling a lot like Chloe when she leaned into her, giving her a small shake. "Bree! Ugh, you're so cute."

"What?" Aubrey cried, her eyes wide, looking startled.

"Um," Beca frowned, "to be fair I think it's already been established that I think you're cute." Aubrey didn't seem to have much to say about that so Beca teasingly pressed, reaching over and poking her in the side. Aubrey yelped and jerked away, lighting a whole new thing inside of Beca, despite her chagrin that they were no longer holding hands. Because she was five years old apparently. "Are you ticklish?"

"No!"

"Oh my god, somehow I totally didn't expect you to be ticklish."

"I'm not!" But the second that Beca reached over again, Aubrey jumped up and began to move down the briskly path.

"Bree!" Beca cried, grabbing the forgotten backpack and chasing after her.

Aubrey yelped when she saw her coming and took off down the path, Beca hot on her heels, laughing as Aubrey ran into another viewpoint and trapped herself in the corner of the little booth. "No, no, no!" Aubrey cried, swatting at Beca's hands despite the fact that Beca hadn't even gotten close to her yet.

Beca was delighted. She had never seen Aubrey like this, laughing, her face alight, playful - she had literally just _run_ from Beca. She knew that it was a little childish to force Aubrey into a tickle fight but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Using her body to keep Aubrey in the corner she reached for her ribs, playfully squeezing while Aubrey shrieked and begged her to stop.

"Oh my god!" Aubrey cried. "No, I hate it! Stop! Stop it!" But Aubrey's hands were on Beca's and they were holding her there, pinning them against her in a way that made Beca wish she could push them under Aubrey's shirt. "Please! Please!" She laughed, her head thrashing back and forth.

Beca pressed into her a little harder, trying to free her hands, noticing that she had Aubrey pinned in the corner. "Okay, okay! I promise!"

Aubrey calmed a little, her eyes still bright but Beca could have sworn that her hands held Beca's tighter, not letting her move away and she loved it. She loved the simple teasing. She loved the flirting. She loved the way her smile shone, the way that her eyes were slightly squinted against the sun. She was so beautiful. Beca stopped trying to pull away and instead she flattened her hands, holding her by the ribs as she leaned in and kissed her.

She had known that she was going to do it the moment that she cornered her, but given the way every bit of air seemed to gush from Aubrey's lungs as she did, she had to assume Aubrey hadn't.

She could feel Aubrey's hesitance in the kiss, could feel it in how she barely responded, barely shaped herself to Beca and it drove her nuts. Her hands convulsed, pulling her into her and Aubrey gasped - opening herself for Beca and it wasn't hesitant anymore. Beca swept her tongue gently across Aubrey's once and the kiss changed. Aubrey's hands bit down on hers and suddenly it was _Aubrey_ who was firmly pressing into Beca.

This was not like kissing Chloe and yet, it was just as awesome. If kissing Chloe was like kissing fire than kissing Aubrey was like kissing water, as Aubrey slowly, powerfully, _deeply_ rolled into her mouth, stroking her in a way that was quickly turning Beca to putty. She wanted to climb up her body. She wanted to scratch through their layers of clothes in order to just get a little closer. Aubrey's hands ran up her arms, gripping her behind the elbows as she pulled her in tighter, overpowering everything about Beca.

It was Aubrey who broke the kiss and when she did Beca let out a whine, her head spinning.

"Holy shit." She was still upright and that was an accomplishment, that much she knew.

Aubrey just shyly smiled at her.

It turned out that Aubrey had been right. It did get hot and when they finally made it back to Aubrey's car the two were sweaty and dirty but happy. The rest of the afternoon had stayed playful as they walked hand in hand, Aubrey making fun of Beca about her reaction to the bugs and Beca teasing Aubrey at her annoyance when they met other people on the trail.

"Do you want to have that picnic for dinner?" Aubrey asked, leaning her back against the car in a way that reminded Beca too much of their moment at the viewpoint. "I'm sure it's still good." Aubrey took a large drink of water, "Or," she cleared her throat.

"Or?" Beca eyed her. She had a feeling that she knew what Aubrey was thinking. They hadn't talked about it, not at all, but Beca could feel it, she could feel her with them all day long, their missing third party.

"Or we could get something in the city?" She asked, feeling the weight of her suggestion.

Aubrey nodded and it wasn't until they were ten minutes down the road that Aubrey finally fulfilled her role by saying, "And maybe we should call Chloe."

They looked at one another for a moment, both feeling openly relieved and neither saying that the idea of calling Chloe felt a lot like scratching a hard to reach itch or taking a drink of water when you were really thirsty.

Instead Beca fulfilled her own role in this and gave a nod. "Yeah, we can do that."

Only this time when Chloe slipped into the booth across from them, it wasn't like it was after the other two dates. Chloe set her purse down and just looked at them, her smile a little twisted, a little uncomfortable.

Beca grinned at her, far too happy to see her but the grin fell quickly.

The moment Chloe was there the peaceful lazy feel of the day broke, tension suddenly radiating in Beca's stomach, tying it in knots.

Caught off guard by it, all three frowned for a few silent moments, baffled.

"You guys look like you got some sun," Chloe finally said with a smile after she ordered herself a margarita.

"I guess we did." Aubrey gave a laugh and yet the laugh wasn't quite right.

"Yeah, sorry, we probably smell kind of gross. We both could use a shower." And now that she thought of it, she almost wished they hadn't called Chloe. They were probably rank.

But Chloe just smiled, absently dipping her chip into the salsa on the table. "Let me know if you need someone to wash your back."

Beca's stomach did a lot of things all at once, everything from a tap dance to a belly flop.

Both of them.

She was talking to _both_ of them.

And somehow that only made it better.

Suddenly the booth was too warm.

"That was…" she blinked, trying to find the right word.

"Hot."

She should have been surprised that Aubrey was the one to finish her sentence, she should have been surprised by the way that Aubrey was staring at Chloe but she couldn't be; her whole body was too busy reacting to the way that Chloe was grinning at them.

" _It didn't work!_ "

Beca's eyes went wide as she realized that _she_ was the one who had just spoken. She was - she was kind of turned on by what Chloe had just said, by the tone, by the thought and yet that blurt was totally Aubrey's fault. Yeah, 100% Aubrey, who had turned her attention from Chloe to Beca, her nostrils flared, her lips in a growl. And so she had blurted. Oh god, she had blurted and now it was out there.

"What?" Chloe gasped, her look no longer playfully vampy. It was as though someone had pricked her balloon with a needle.

"It didn't work," Beca said again, this time in open panic. "Not for me. It didn't. Both dates were great, both dates were awesome but I don't feel any closer to, to, to, I don't know, narrowing down my options."

She said it and the tension at the table tripled, Chloe's look was devastated, Aubrey's panicked.

Their server interrupted then and though it was clear she knew she had interrupted something, she let them each pick something random off the menu before she turned and moved quickly away.

"Beca," Chloe whispered, her voice dripping with hurt devastation once the server was gone. "What do you mean?"

It made Beca twist in her seat. God, making Chloe's voice sound like that should be illegal. She should be flagellated. How was it possible to hurt her so easily? She knew that she was doing something she hated doing, she was pushing them, she was talking about the awkward things, a task she avoided at all costs but she couldn't stop it. "Did you?" She challenged, a little angrily. "Did you - _pick_ , Chloe?"

Aubrey's head whipped around, pinning Chloe and Chloe shrank back. Her eyelashes fluttered and she sank in her seat a little, looking between them for a long while before she all but whispered, "No."

To Beca's surprise, relief washed through her, strong and thick.

"Bree?" Chloe asked, seeming almost hopeful but Aubrey just shook her head, not looking at them. "I, oh god," Chloe cried when suddenly her bright blue eyes began to water, "I'm sorry, I - I just, I _missed_ you. Bree, I missed you when I was out with Beca and Beca, I missed you when I was out with Bree. I don't, I don't know what to do! You're both so amazing! Is it just because we always spend time together? Do you think if we stop doing that then that feeling will fade? I don't know what to do! I don't-"

"Chloe." Aubrey sighed, reaching over and taking her hand, her eyes over bright as well. "Don't cry, honey, please, don't cry."

"I'm not," she shook her head, hiding behind a napkin. "I'm not - I just," Chloe stood suddenly, moving off fast toward the bathroom.

They both called after her but when Aubrey rose to chase her Beca stopped her. "Maybe give her a minute? I don't know, but that's what I would want."

The meal was horrible. No one seemed to have anything to say, depression weighing on them like a thick blanket. Beca wanted to leave, she wanted to get the fuck out of there and away from all of this, but at the same time the idea of leaving sounded like torture. Leave to do what? To worry about this alone? At least here she had the two of them. She felt horrible that she had made Chloe cry. She wanted to make that better but she just couldn't seem to do it, couldn't get her mouth to work.

No one ate much and it only took ten minutes of them pushing around their food to ask for to-go containers.

"Well?" Aubrey asked, barely glancing between them as they made their way out to the car. "Should I take you two home or-"

Both Chloe and Beca just stared at her, blankly horrified by the cold polite tone that they had once heard coming from Aubrey so often and yet had been so absent as of late.

" _Bree_. Please don't use that tone right now." The words came out of Chloe plaintively, her voice cracking as more stressed tears appeared. Beca felt as though she was stretched too tight as well and for a moment she envied Chloe's ability to simply cry about it. Chloe reached forward and wrapped herself into a forceful hug, her face resting on Aubrey's chest as she gave into tears.

Beca hated it. She was so bad with crying girls, she was so bad at crying herself and yet she felt her throat start to close as she watched Aubrey hug Chloe tight, rocking a little. She didn't know how to help or how to be involved so she just put her hand on Chloe's back and then Chloe pulled her in, holding her to them tightly.

"Guys, I don't," Chloe tried but her voice cracked so Beca just shushed her, leaning over and giving her forehead a kiss because that seemed like something that she could do just then.

"Bree, can we go back to your place?"

Aubrey nodded and the three piled into the car. Their tall blonde had to wipe under her eyes as well a few times before she could pull out of the lot.

They were only halfway down the street when Chloe suddenly exploded, "I refuse to just walk away from this. I feel -" Beca turned in the seat to look at Chloe behind them but Chloe was just looking between them, a look of utter bafflement on her face. "But how can I? It doesn't make sense!" She finally cried. "I - I - I can't date _either_ of you!"

"What?" Beca yelped, twisting around further. Why did that feel like she had just been given a baseball bat to the stomach? "Chloe! Wha-"

"I can't, Beca! How can I? I can't lose either of you!"

The air had grown tense but now it relaxed into understanding.

"Well," Beca shifted, wishing she had room to move. "Yeah."

Chloe leaned forward, her hands coming to rest on their shoulders, "I would be so happy, so, so happy to date either of you."

"I can't." Aubrey's voice came out stiff and hard. "I can't, Chloe." She shook her head, refusing to look away from the road but wiping her nose and sniffing.

"Is it shitty that I just want to date both of you? Is that a thing? Can we all just date each other without it being weird?" Beca had expected them to be angry, had expected them to be hurt or maybe laugh but instead both shoulders suddenly slumped in relief and she watched as both Chloe and Aubrey took a deep breath for the first time since Chloe had sat down at the restaurant.

Aubrey gave a watery laugh which, a look of disbelief on her face, Chloe picked up as well. "I'm so, so, _so_ , glad someone else said that first."

Beca stared at Aubrey, "Wait, what?"

They talked until they pulled up into Aubrey's driveway, admitting that they all felt the same way, admitting that they didn't know what to do and Beca felt better hearing it. At least she wasn't alone in that.

"I guess maybe we could make it a thing, right?" Chloe frowned.

"But it would be totally weird, right? That would be _so_ weird! Like, what, we all just date and we all would know that everyone was dating everyone and we just try not to make it weird?" Beca scoffed, the incredulity thick in her voice.

"It happens, right? I'm sure I've heard of it happening."

"Yes," Aubrey sighed, letting them in and heading straight back to the den. "We've all _heard_ of it, Chloe. Everyone has _heard_ of it on TV or perhaps in the movies, but that's not something people really _do_. It can't be. That's something you do in college when your relationship is built mostly on sex and alcohol. That is _not_ something you do at this point in our lives." She flopped down on the sofa, immediately curling up into the corner as she ranted, "What, would we trade off time like divorced parents? One week I get Beca and the next you do, Chloe? I don't...that doesn't sound appealing! Wouldn't it get more awkward knowing we were all dating when we weren't together? Would we stop spending time together with the three of us? I don't,"

"What if we _all_ dated?"

Aubrey's eyes rolled in impatience, "Beca!"

"No, I mean like, I wish that we could all just date - together."

Both Aubrey and Chloe just stared at her, eyebrows high. She hadn't known why she said it. What did that even really mean? She had no idea, but, she just - she didn't know.

"Can we," Chloe frowned, "can we please just table this? For now? I don't know, but my head hurts. My _heart_ hurts."

They agreed, because what else were they going to do and no one argued when Aubrey just put on a movie.

Beca didn't feel better. She didn't feel _good_. As a matter of fact, somehow she felt worse than she had in a long while. So when Chloe, still sniffling, leaned into her, Beca let her. And it was strange; it did make her feel better. So much better when, though she was stiff and awkward at first, she let herself lean against Aubrey as well. Aubrey started a bit but then as Beca settled in against her side and Chloe cuddled in tightly too, Aubrey relaxed a little, eventually letting her arm drape over them, her fingers playing idly in Chloe's hair.

It was strange. Beca knew that the three were totally aware of the fact that they were cuddling, like, actually _cuddling_ there in the dark, and yet Beca just let herself take the comfort that the situation offered. When Aubrey's hand snaked into Beca's, their fingers twining together, Beca did her best not to think about it and instead reached over and took Chloe's as well.

She knew that they shouldn't do this, that it was freaking weird and awkward and they shouldn't but, not interested in the movie, Beca instead kept looking at Aubrey's thumb. It was caressing Chloe's hand, just like she was doing with hers, and she kept wondering how it was making Chloe feel - how it made _her_ feel. It was strange. She wasn't jealous - or mad - or anything really. Somehow watching their fingers together was comforting.

When the movie was over no one moved. They didn't even talk about it. Aubrey just reached for the remote and clicked it over to TV, putting on the first movie she found. No one spoke, all aware that they could hide in the darkness, that they could cuddle and not talk about it.

It was late when the second movie ended and though Beca was exhausted and just wanted her own bed, she agreed when Aubrey said in a soft voice that they should just stay.

"The couch works for me," Chloe offered, her voice just as small.

Aubrey had just stood and she stopped, her face unhappy, "But,"

Chloe was already shaking her head though. "I don't know," her expression was sour as she told the floor, "I don't think I could get into a bed with you, either of you. I don't even know - I don't know what - I don't know but I would probably do something I shouldn't." It took her a long moment to look up and when she did her face broke Beca's heart.

This was not how she had anticipated the day ending. The lights were clicked out and while she was so tired, she didn't sleep. Instead she stayed up for _hours_ thinking. She was pretty sure that it couldn't keep going on like this. There was no way. So then what was next? Was she going to lose both of them as friends?

It had been dark for so long that her heart jumped into her throat when she heard a sniffle from across the room. She had assumed that Chloe had fallen asleep a long time ago.

"Chlo?"

There was silence for a bit before Chloe's thick voice asked, "Yeah?"

"I just - I don't know what to do here."

"No." She sniffed again, her voice thick and raspy, breaking halfway through the word. Clearly she had been silently crying for a while. "I don't either."

"I -" she felt so alone on the couch, so completely and totally alone and she couldn't handle it. She sat up, and before her courage could fail her, she reached down and pulled Chloe up, then they both made their way toward the bedroom.

Aubrey, as it turned out, had been crying as well. She could hear her soft whimpers as they entered.

"Bree?" Beca whispered but all she got back was a sniff from the direction of the bed.

Chloe had apparently had enough, though. She climbed right up onto Aubrey's bed and slipped under the covers, hugging Aubrey to her and, because she really wanted to, Beca followed her. She settled in on the other side of Chloe, wishing she had arms large enough for them both and was pleased when, in the darkness, the other two cuddled in tight against her.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Beca**_

"Whaaaaat?" Beca buried her head into her pillow, trying to shield her face from the light. She had no idea what time it was but it was too early to be awake. She was sure of that.

"Beca! Chloe!"

Was someone _calling_ her? The fuck? Her hand reached out for her phone, her mushy brain simply registering the word _calling_ and what she hit instead was a wall. The fuck? Her bed wasn't next to a wall. Her bed was in a fucking living room. Who was calling her _name?_ Confusion settled in thickly as she opened her eyes, determined to stop the sound that was keeping her awake. Instead she looked straight into crazy-blue irises.

"Shit!" She yelped jerking back so fast that her head collided with the wall. "Ooooow, shit, oww! Chloe? The fuck, dude?" She sat up, untangling her legs from Chloe's with a few rough jerks. It wasn't exactly _bad_ waking up beside Chloe, she was just a little, she was a little confused. And her head hurt.

Chloe just yawned, pushing herself up too and leaned over to give Beca's cheek a groggy kiss, "Morning. Is she calling us?"

"What?" And then she remembered. The awkwardness. The tears. They had crawled into Aubrey's bed the night before.

Far grumpier than she should be, she pushed herself over Chloe so she could grab the bedside clock. She groaned and flopped back down, marveling at the softness of the sheets and the Aubreyness of the smell as she tried to get her heart to let go of its grip on her throat.

She saw the time and face planted into the pillow. She was not a morning person. And she was not about being scared awake.

"Guys!"

Beca peeled one of her eyes open enough to see Aubrey, in adorably baggy cottony pajamas, tripping and stumbling her way in with a laptop in her hands. She yelped as she hit the corner of the bed and, in a move that was so endearingly out of character for a woman who always wore professional stilettos, fell sideways across their legs. "Bree? What's wrong?" She grumbled, pushing herself up only to get knocked backward as Aubrey scrambled up to them, tripping on the blankets. "Aaaah! Fuck!" She moaned as she fell back into Chloe, who hummed and wrapped her arms around her with obvious pleasure, hiding her yawn in Beca's neck.

Wait.

Chloe seemed to realize what she had done as well because suddenly her arms were gone and when Beca glanced at her, Chloe just gave a sheepishly apologetic smile. She couldn't really blame her though. How _did_ they all behave toward one another after admitting they wished they could all date, cuddling all night, and then sharing a bed?

There were no real rules that Beca knew how to follow here.

"Guys!" Aubrey, who was finally right side up with her cheeks glowing red, was clearly out of breath with excitement.

"Hi." Beca laughed.

"Hi!" Aubrey's eyes were dancing, her grin huge and toothy. "Guys, _it's a thing_."

"Aubrey," Beca groaned, wishing she could lean back against Chloe again, "the sun is barely up. Speak more clearly, please. OR speak clearer. Ugh, I don't know. What are you talking about?"

Aubrey's smile faltered, glancing at the clock, "It's after _nine._ "

"It's only _nine?_ " Chloe wailed, turning so she could fall back into the pillows.

Beca just nodded in agreement. "Some of us have unconventional jobs, Bree, and don't think that nine is a reasonable hour to be up."

"Okay, whatever, fine!" Aubrey waved her off, "The three of us being together. It's a thing."

"Like, the three of us? All of us?" Chloe asked, her voice muffled through the pillow. "Together?"

"Yes! I've been up most of the night researching. Ladies, five percent of the population have a relationship like ours."

"Five percent? That isn't much."

"Like _ours?_ " Beca frowned, wondering exactly what theirs was supposed to be. Wasn't that kind of the thing they didn't know?

"Chloe!" Aubrey groaned, "That's like almost eight million people!"

"Wait, that have a relationship like - um - whatever this is?"

Chloe sat up again, her hand gripping Beca's arm so tightly that Beca winced.

"Um," Aubrey stuttered a little under their gazes, making Beca smile. She was just so cute for someone who could be so intimidating. "Ye-yes, it's called _Polyamory._ "

Beca was pretty sure she had heard of it before but she couldn't place it. She finally gave in, letting herself rest against Chloe behind her, who mercifully let her rest there without responding. "So wait, yeah, okay," she said slowly as she thought, "That's basically open relationships, right? Like, you're married but you still _date?_ Oooor wait, is that having more than one wife? I'm not sure."

Aubrey cleared her throat, scooting in a little closer as she read in her clearest and most authoritative voice, "Polyamory, definition one: the state or practice of maintaining multiple relationships simultaneously, with the full knowledge and consent of all people involved. Definition two: a relationship involving more than two people, or open to involvement by more than two people. Having more than one wife is Polygamy and that isn't not the same thing at all."

Okay, so Beca had seen this before. She had read some Buzzfeed article at one point and soon after she had met this model in San Francisco who had a husband and a wife. At the time she had thought it was really fucking weird but now, sitting on Aubrey's bed thousands of miles away and living a whole different life, she didn't think that it had been so weird after all. She didn't understand how it worked, but -

"I don't get it." Chloe cried. Beca jumped, having forgotten just how close Chloe was to her ear, "Like, everyone is sleeping with everyone? Is it just sex?"

She really wished that Chloe wouldn't say things like that quite so close to her. She shifted a little and felt Chloe do the same, creating a groove for Beca to fit into.

"No!" Aubrey beamed, so obviously excited that Beca bit her lip to hold back a laugh, "Listen to _this_."

"Bree, you're so sweet right now."

Aubrey looked up, startled, "What?"

"Nothing, you're good. Ignore her." Beca said quickly, her fingers groping behind her for Chloe's mouth. She jumped a little and yanked her hand away when Chloe teasingly bit the tip of her pointer finger in response.

"Okay, um, so, yes, right. This is the definition of a _Triad_ \- which is what we are. A Triad. Yes. Right." She cleared her throat again and moved on, "A polyamorous relationship composed of three people. Generally, the word triad is most often applied to a relationship in which each of the three people are emotionally and," Aubrey's cheeks went pink, "sexually involved with all the other members of the Triad."

"Uh - wow."

"So basically we would all date each other? Openly? Together?" Chloe asked, a bit dubiously.

"Yes, look, there are pages and _pages_ here about it. And look at these three, they have been together for thirty years."

"All three of them?"

"Yes! I had thought relationships like this were dirty and just about sex, and so I discounted it as something done in college exploration and minor alcohol abuse. But look," she flipped the computer screen around to show a man and two graying women, "they are _married_ to one another! It's normal!"

"But like," she didn't want to be a downer here or anything but, "how would that _work_ exactly?"

This time Aubrey's face fell as well. "I don't know."

"That seems like," she ran her fingers through her hair, a little agitated, "I dunno, am I crazy? That seems like that could be a lot of drama. Like jealousy and stuff. Maybe?"

"I think that would depend on how we did it." Aubrey offered, her face a little hopeful again. "I guess I don't really know, but that is what I would think. Right?"

Chloe shifted, making Beca realize she was still leaning against her so she sat up. Maybe this was a time to not be doing something that had her touching one of them. Then she nearly laughed out loud when she realized, sitting up or not, Aubrey's knee was against hers and she could feel Chloe's leg pressed lightly into the small of her back.

The happy pleasantness that had been on Aubrey's face was quickly fading as she looked between them. Clearly she didn't like what she was seeing, "Right?"

"I mean, I don't know, Bree. It's weird, right? That's weird?"

Aubrey's eyes pierced into Beca, looking at her like Beca wasn't speaking English at all. "Chloe," Aubrey suddenly said, her attention turning, "you've been uncommonly quiet through all of this. What do you think?"

Beca turned too, surprised to see that Chloe looked uncomfortable. It wasn't a look they saw very often.

"I don't know." She shook her head a little, "I don't know, Bree. How would that even work? Like, on a daily basis. It isn't really supposed to work, right? That's not what relationships are supposed to be."

"I don't know." Aubrey shifted and then when that wasn't enough she rose and manically began tidying the room as she spoke. "Everything I've read made it sound as though life is entirely normal, that it's just like dating anyone else."

"But like," she started. She was seeing a lot of problems with this. Like, how would they still hang out? Or - no, wait, so they would pretty much only hang out the three of them, right? That wasn't cool. But wait again, they basically already only hung out the three of them, right? So -

"I don't know, Beca!" Aubrey suddenly cried and Beca flinched.

"Um, whoa dude!"

"I can't believe you two aren't more enthusiastic! This is an answer, this is _the_ answer to what we all want! This is what we were talking about anyway, it's just a different language! It's a realistic language."

"A weird language," Chloe mumbled under her breath.

Aubrey's lips pursed, her face going pale. She paused, mid straightening the top of her dresser for a moment, her pale cheeks going green.

"Bree?"

She shook her head, slowly continuing with her work of cleaning things that did not need to be cleaned.

"Bree, I'm sorry, we're not saying no." Chloe promised. "Look, please come sit down."

Aubrey just continued on, driving Beca a little nuts.

"Dude, I think we are just afraid that maybe we don't know how this would work."

Aubrey just gave a huff, her face growing sharp.

"Bree," Chloe said in her softest, sweetest voice, "please come sit down. You're making me nervous. I'm worried that you'll,"

"What?" Aubrey snapped, "You're worried that I'll what, Chloe? _Have an episode?_ "

In truth, it looked like Aubrey was two minutes away from exactly that, like, Beca wasn't entirely sure that she was willing to get too close to her in case she was in firing range.

A bit warily, Beca watched the way her eyes were flashing, saw the way that though they were talking to her, Aubrey wasn't actually looking at them but instead looking just over their heads or ignoring them completely.

"This is something that you really want, isn't it, Bree?" Beca said, her mouth open in wonder. They had seen Aubrey behave like this before, a bit irrationally, a little too quick to anger but all of those times had involved her family. Aubrey's eyes flashed to her this time; still, a little miffed by her behavior Beca pushed on, "Because I won't lie until you were _kissing me_ I kind of thought you didn't feel what I could tell Chloe and I felt...Aubrey!" She cried when, though Aubrey's cheeks hollowed, she did not respond, "Will you please come sit freaking down?"

Aubrey scowled.

"Dude," she cried, "can you stop looking at us like you want to kill us? We're,"

"No!" Aubrey interrupted, making Beca roll her eyes. Fuck it, she gave up. "No, Beca, this isn't what I _want!_ " Aubrey snapped. " _This_ is _not_ how I was raised! I rarely date because of it, Beca! Do you know when I last dated a woman? Hmm? My senior year of c _ollege!_ Because I don't _do_ what I wasn't raised to do! So I date men and I am normal! Because _that_ is how I was raised! This would be weird! And strange! And no, I don't want to do it!"

"Jesus," Beca mumbled, completely uncomfortable under her laser-like stare.

"But I have to! We have to! Because this is the way that means that we don't lose one of us. This is our answer. This means _we can have each other._ And I need that. I need this!"

" _Bree._ " Chloe all but moaned, her face falling to Beca's shoulder.

Even Beca had to admit that Aubrey's words had just kind of turned her to melted butter.

Chloe's hand shot out, demanding Aubrey's, demanding that she join them and finally Aubrey complied, shuffling back onto the bed, her eyes intense.

" _This is our answer._ " She said again, "I think, if these websites are telling the truth instead of a bunch of - _whatever_ , then we could be totally normal."

Chloe gave a small giggle, "With just a pinch of lagniappe."

"Um, Chlo, you're speaking crazy New Orleanian again." Beca grumbled.

"It means 'a little something extra'."

Beca gave a snort. "So who's the _extra?_ "

"Oh my god, shut up." Chloe rolled her eyes, pushing Beca so she fell. She stayed against the pillows, not really willing to put herself in front of the firing squad again and as she laid there she watched Chloe's face, completely distracted by it. She was looking at Aubrey suddenly like she thought this was a good idea. Which...

 _Was_ it a good idea?

Aubrey's little speech had clearly won over Chloe; there wasn't a shred of hesitation on her face anymore. In fact, she looked much more like herself now as her gleeful grin reached epic proportions.

She didn't know.

Part of her felt like they were out of their minds. This was some kind of outside of the box, alternative lifestyle, lifetime movie type shit - while another part of her kept whispering that it made perfect sense - "I guess it's not really different than us all agreeing to date. Which is kind of where we were last night. It's just, I don't know, in the open and all of us and - what?" She asked with a laugh, unable to ignore the look on Chloe's face.

"It's kind of exciting. And kind of - _hot_ , right?"

Beca glanced at Aubrey in time to see Aubrey swallow thickly, and this time not in a way that said that she felt sick. She sat up, wanting to say something, pleased when Chloe leaned into her back again, her chin resting on her shoulder.

"So like, I would get both of you?"

The other two just nodded.

"But," Chloe's face, ever emotive suddenly fell, "that kind of feels unfair. Like I'm getting to have my cake and eat it too."

Aubrey's mouth dropped open, all but spluttering, "But we _kissed!_ And it was together and it was good."

"Yeah, but -"

" _Chloe!_ " Aubrey's hands balled into fists by her side, the telltale Aubrey-is-angry sign, "you can't say no just because it would be _too good!_ "

"That's not what I'm saying, I'm just saying that -"

Aubrey, apparently, was not in the mood for a fight right now. "Chloe!" She growled and launched herself forward, tackling Chloe in a kiss.

"Gaah!" Beca yelped, flinching as though someone had taken a swing at her when suddenly Aubrey was rushing their direction. And then, " _Holy shit._ " She hadn't meant to let out the moan either but it was completely unavoidable. Aubrey had decided to stop Chloe's arguments with a kiss, something which Beca understood and totally agreed with. The thing was - _she_ had been between them.  
She was _still_ between them.  
She could feel the pressure from both of them, Chloe leaning forward to get closer to Aubrey while Aubrey leaned into Chloe. She could feel their bodies tight against her as once again Aubrey kissed Chloe a breath away from her face. She stared, her eyes owlishly large and unblinking, her face blank.  
How did this keep happening? This wasn't something that happened in life. She could feel Chloe's hands on her ribs, closing in a vise as Aubrey _obviously_ deepened the kiss. "Hooooly _shit_ ," she mumbled. Was this weird? She kind of forgot to care as she watched the way that Aubrey's jaw moved, the way her tongue peeked out from the gap at the corners of their lips, the way that Chloe's head began to tilt back as though she was unable to hold herself up under the pressure of Aubrey.

Fuck.

Aubrey broke away a second later, a bit breathless. "Now kiss Beca."

"Wha-" but Beca didn't get a chance to finish because Chloe came in hot and fast, taking Beca by storm and - fuck, she was all about it. It was weird but she could still feel Aubrey pressed into her front and Chloe into her back, she could still feel Chloe's hands on her ribs as her tongue hungrily swiped at Beca's, daring her to give back as much as she was getting. Fuuuuuck, her breath caught as she felt the feather-light trail of lips over her neck, so soft that she wondered if Aubrey had only done it because she couldn't help herself, because she had to be involved in some way.

And then she wasn't thinking anything.

She was going to die. She was sure of it. She was so ready to die if this is how she was going to do it. Her toes curled in the sheets, her fingers twitching as she stifled back a moan, her breath roughly taken from her by the shock of the intensity of the kiss, by the quality.

She felt Aubrey's fingers jerk her chin, pulling her away from Chloe with a pop. If Chloe was upset then she didn't show it. Instead of arguing she just trailed her lips down the side of Beca's throat, her hands balling in Aubrey's hair as she pulled her into Beca.

God, kissing them was night and day and yet, there was something perfect about this, something that paired exactly right.

Her head was spinning. She was going to need to come up for air soon but all she wanted to do was pull them down to the blankets. She wanted to reach out and touch somebody but she wasn't sure who, so her hands just stayed uselessly in her lap, opening and closing without purpose in time with the brush of Aubrey's tongue.

Chloe's lips moved to her ear at the same moment that Aubrey's teeth caught the tip of her tongue, giving it a light nip and everything in her charged. She pushed forward, pulling Chloe with her as she took over the kiss.

Aubrey was a woman who got what she wanted and clearly she wanted this. They fought, each pushing, trying to take over and somehow that only made it better. Instead of meeting in the middle like they did with Chloe, both fought to dominate. When Aubrey leaned forward, Beca pushed against her, refusing to allow her tongue entrance and instead insisted on her own. Aubrey made a frustrated little sound, a small huff and gripped the sides of Beca's face, pushing up so she was towering over her, using her advantage to not allow Beca to do what she wanted to.

So Beca gave in because who the hell cared right now. It felt too good.

Beca groaned when Aubrey pulled back a few inches. She wanted her back and though her fingers locked into Aubrey's hair, the woman only let herself be pulled another half an inch. "See." Aubrey said through a radiant grin. "Did that feel weird?"

Words. It was time for words now. Shit.

She thumped back down to the bed, into Chloe's lap. "Not as - weird as it should - but you can't ask me to make actual thoughts when you're kissing me - and she's sucking on my ear." She could feel her back bending into her and she snapped her mouth shut, willing herself not to make the noises that Chloe's mouth was creating inside of her.

Aubrey gave her a satisfied smile, her eyes tracing her face, tracing the spot where Chloe's lips were connected to Beca's skin. "Let's just try it for a day. Let's try it for a day and then we'll see how we feel."

Beca was trying to focus, she was, but instead she found herself pushing against Chloe, a small whimper escaping her as Chloe artfully moved to suck just behind her ear, her hands beginning to inch from Beca's ribs. She pulled again, trying to pull Aubrey back to her, wanting her mouth on her but Aubrey's triumphant smile only grew. "If it works for us like this then surely we can make it work outside of the bedroom." She felt Aubrey's finger trail along Chloe's jaw, pulling her away from Beca who sank back both thankful and bitterly resentful. Her whole body was electric, sizzling and zapping and god, she could feel just how quickly her body had responded.

"Let's just try it today. Let's stay here and let's be together." Beca couldn't see Chloe's face from this position but she could only imagine what was on it because Aubrey's face turned strict, "No sex." Chloe gave a huff that made Aubrey laugh and lean in for a peck - and then another - and then Aubrey, seeming unable to stop herself, was pressing into them again.

If they were going to do that then she was going to - but before Beca could lean forward and taste Aubrey's neck, she was pulling back again.

"No sex. Let's just _be_ together. And see what happens."

She couldn't decide if she was happy or unhappy about that rule. "So then, what do we do now?"

"Can you both stay?"

Beca frowned, pushing her hair from her face as she tried to clear her head. She couldn't stay. Like at all. But she so was going to anyway.

"I'll have to call someone to cover my tours but that's 'lright. Someone owes me. I'll make it work." Chloe frowned, "What? What's wrong?"

They were both staring at her. They had never heard her accent so thick.

"Oh," Chloe laughed, lifting her hair and fanning herself. "It happens when -" she glanced between them and in a move that was so much more Aubrey than Chloe, she blushed deeply and looked away, the fanning picking up pace.

The thought that Chloe was turned on, turned on enough to lose her ability to hide her accent - that was a little too much for Beca. Her whole body reacted and she nearly launched herself, her hands ready to rid bodies of clothing. She only just stopped herself in time. "No sex. Right. No sex."

Aubrey, who was looking at Chloe like she wanted to eat her, was nodding a bit mechanically. "Right. I did say that. Right."

That look really wasn't helping.

"Great!" Chloe suddenly chirped, "Upandat'em then. Let's make a big ol' breakfast. I'm starvin'." She finagled herself up and started out of the room, clearly expecting them to follow. "Whew!" She cried, shaking out her hair and rubbing her face. "Makin' breakfast. Alright."

Aubrey and Beca just stared after her, not sure how she had gone from so turned on that she couldn't hide her accent to 'upandat'em it's breakfast time'. Beca was for sure not there yet. She needed a second to - _cool_.

She glanced at Aubrey, ready to laugh it off but the look on Aubrey's face was anything but funny.

There was a reason to get up and leave the bedroom, she knew there was but… "We should -"

"Yes!" Aubrey's face cleared.

Beca took a moment in the bathroom after that, brushing her teeth with her finger and trying to tame her hair - while also trying to not think about exactly _why_ it was so messed up.

She had no idea how to deal with this day. How did she behave?

She let herself out of the bathroom a minute later because it wasn't going to help to get herself all tripped up and in her head. Only, when she rounded into the kitchen she stopped dead, a little startled by the fact that they both turned to smile at her. She tried but she couldn't seem to smile back. Instead she ran her hands through her hair - then shoved them in her front pockets - then her back - then let them hang, only to still feel uncomfortable.

"Bec?"

Eyes rolling, she let out a grunt of aggravation. "I don't know what to do with my hands."

"Here," Chloe turned, her accent still thick, "put 'em on this," she said with an eyebrow waggle as she handed her a mug of coffee.

"'Kay, really not helping, dude. Like, _so_ not freaking helping."

"Sorry," Chloe frowned, her look so sweet and sincere that it made Beca want to hug her - which was annoying. "I promise I'll be good."

"Beca," Aubrey said from the other side of the kitchen, "come help me with this."

Aubrey, it seemed, had also taken a moment to prepare for the day. While she was now in long, sleek yoga pants, a large crochet button up sweater, with her hair brushed and framing her shoulders, everything she was wearing was perfectly polished. Beca was willing to bet anything that Aubrey had dressed 'properly' and Chloe had insisted that she change into something more comfortable. She could almost hear the conversation in her head.

A scowl still on her face, Beca came to the chopping block, slightly comforted by the hand that Aubrey placed on her back.

"Are you nervous?"

Beca frowned as she sucked the coffee down, "For?" Except she totally knew what Aubrey was asking.

"About today." Aubrey gave a shrug.

"Errr." Yeah, she was being awkward but like -

"I am."

Beca blinked up at Aubrey, "You are?"

"I am."

"Why? You're like, you're all about this."

"I want this to go well, Beca, because I don't know what else we could do. So if you think about it that means I have all the more reason to be nervous."

Not really sure what to say to that Beca just turned to Chloe, "Chlo?"

Chloe took a second to think about that, "No. I think this is going to be good."

Beca nodded. She didn't want to say but 'nervous' was far too accurate.

She was so nervous in fact that the very last thing she could have expected was for the day to be _totally normal._ They made breakfast together, Aubrey and Beca openly enjoying the fact that Chloe's accent didn't disappear fully for over an hour. They ate. They cleaned up. And then they simply _hung_ _out._ They watched TV. Aubrey and Chloe spent awhile talking about Chloe's dissertation. They listened to music. They danced. It felt like any other day and that was strange, right? That was weird?

She hadn't expected it to be like always.

She hadn't expected it to be easy as breathing.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Aubrey**_

* * *

"Aubrey?"

"Hmm?" She heard the deadened way that Beca said her name but she was too lost in her mind to notice it.

"Aubrey?"

"Hmm?" Her name didn't penetrate as she, on auto pilot, began to wipe the mantel for any traitorous dust that might be there. Her mind was too full of spinning thoughts for her to focus on much of anything else.

The thing was - she wanted this.

Well no, what she had said to Beca was true. She _didn't_ want this.

She could never let her family know what she was doing. She could never let her co-workers know either and if she had any friends -outside of her trio - then they would have to be kept in the dark too.

She would have to hide this but this was _still_ a good idea. It was their best idea.

So, she wanted it; because she wanted them. She wanted them in a way that she rarely allowed herself to want people when she was sober. She wanted them. She wanted _both_ of them, a fact that still sent her mind reeling with confusion. That didn't matter though because earlier she had her lips on Chloe's and she had Beca under her and whether or not she wanted them could not be questioned. Every time she remembered those things, remembered how they felt she had to get up, she had to move. If she sat, if she let herself focus on that, then she would feel herself grow slick again and if she felt that one more time today then she would go mad.

All she knew was that she wanted them and now that she knew she could have them _together_ , she wanted that too.

Perhaps it was wrong, perhaps it was deviant of her; and while the idea of not one but _two_ women in her bed was intimidating and terrifying, she did want it. She wanted it in that exact moment. She had been fighting the desire to simply drag them back to the bedroom _all day_.

That desire only grew as the day progressed and as it continued to be entirely average. She had done her best to _not_ be...herself...about this, but had they made a decision? They were supposed to by the end of the day and how could they when today had felt like _every other day_ they had ever spent together?

Maybe she should _make_ it different; but would that be in the name of...science… or would that simply be to satisfy her own lusts? Was that in the hopes of spurring a conversation or was that only because she was weak?

She turned away from the mantel. She couldn't answer that question, she couldn't honestly say which it was and so she would not allow herself to act.

She needed them to have made a decision.

She needed them to make the right decision.

What if they didn't?

Oh god, she was going to throw up!

She squared her shoulders, swallowing it down. She would not. She was not - that would be entirely unsatisfactory. She had been through her own boot, she was no longer a green soldier - she _would_ not vomit! She would stiffen her upper lip and she would move on. _Oorah!_

She felt the pressing wave of nausea abate a bit and nodded, satisfied.

"Aubrey?"

How could they really make a decision without the day having been different at all? That worried her more than she was comfortable with. She didn't like to worry. She liked to prepare for every available path so that there were no surprises.

"Bree?"

She should have spent more time researching before she woke them. She should have presented better evidence. They should have spent more time in bed together and talked about it more.

" _Aubrey_!"

She gave a yelp and the rag fell from her hand.

 _When_ had she picked up the furniture polish and rag?

Guiltily she looked up and saw that both Beca and Chloe were sitting on the couch together, their feet tucked up and watching her.

"Uuuuuh, what's – what's up, Beca?" She knew she was being crazy. She could see it on their faces.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"What?" She frowned, trying to put down the rag and polish without attracting too much attention to them. She looked around the living room and realized that it was perfectly in order. How long had she been stress cleaning? "Of course I am!"

"Really?" Beca frowned, "Because you just took my cup of coffee out of my hands and washed it."

"What?" She flushed, "No, I didn't." Had she? She was vaguely sure she had recently washed a cup.

"Literally out of my hands."

"What's on your mind, Bree?" Chloe asked, cheerful despite Aubrey's behavior.

"Nothing." She picked up the rag again, folded it - folded it again and then set it down. She sighed, "It's just, the day is almost over."

"Yeah?"

"Well," she felt her head tilt as it always did when she was uncertain, studying her hands, "We've been here all day and nothing about today felt different. I'm," she sniffed, "worried about what that means."

"Isn't it possible that the fact that it didn't feel any different is actually a good sign?"

Aubrey just stared at Beca, not sure she understood that entirely.

They had to make a decision and they had to do it _today_. She couldn't put it off. She just couldn't. She couldn't let them leave here without some type of answer. She didn't think she could take it.

Chloe's face was thoughtful, her lips twisting in a way that Aubrey thought was adorably sexy,. "How should it have been different?"

She paused, realizing she was polishing the mantel decoration with the rag again, "I don't know," she admitted.

"Well. Um," Chloe turned a little, still leaning heavily into Beca's side and reached over to intertwine her fingers through Beca's.

Aubrey watched her do it with a concentration that was probably a little much. She took everything in, every flick of an expression change on their faces, the way that their hands looked so different and yet so similar. She couldn't stop studying the way that Beca and Chloe were looking at one another. What did those looks mean?

Finally Chloe broke eye contact with Beca and looked up again. Carefully she reached out, waiting for Aubrey's hand.

Aubrey paused, not sure that she was able to simply sit and be still right now. Chloe's face grew serious, her eyebrows pulling together in a silent reprimand and since Aubrey didn't really want to hear her say whatever words were forming, she took it. Chloe gave her arm a pull and Aubrey toppled into them, letting out a girlish cry of surprise. "Mmmm," and then she was sighing as Chloe kissed her. She felt better when Chloe was kissing her, her mind cooled and for those few moments her thoughts slowed to a peaceful hum.

It wasn't a long kiss but it was just long enough for Aubrey to need to blink a few times to refocus. Feeling a bit guilty she looked to Beca but Beca didn't look upset or angry. No, she had a very different look on her face, part baffled, part something else entirely.

"So." After a second Beca gave her signature huff, the one that puffed her thin cheeks out and made her eyes pop for a moment; the one that said she had no idea how to ask her question or say what she needed to say. "So how does this work? Like, I kiss her should I then kiss you? Like a one for one type of thing? Because that might get kind of hard."

Aubrey frowned, settling herself between them where she felt Chloe cuddle in without a thought and Beca, as usual, hesitate a bit, leaning in a little closer but not quite all the way like Chloe did. It made Aubrey wonder what it would take to make her entirely comfortable with them.

"Does it bother you that I just kissed Bree?" Chloe asked, leaning around Aubrey.

"No," But Beca's face just seemed all the more confused by that, "I kind of weirdly, I dunno, like it, maybe? Just trying to - I'm not sure how I feel. But mostly I just want to know. I mean, it's not that I don't want to kiss both of you like all the time, but mostly, how is this supposed to work?"

Aubrey was a bit caught on the all of the time thing. All of the time? Did she really mean that? If she leaned over now and kissed her then how would Beca meet her?

"It might upset me to see you guys kissing." Chloe admitted and then jumped when they both turned to look at her, "I'm just being honest! I might be a little, I don't know, but I think that is kind of how it goes, right? There's no way this can happen without some jealousy, right?"

"Talking," Aubrey said, a bit unsteadily. She was sitting between them and talking about kissing them. "We will need to do a lot of talking."

The other two made small noises of agreement, their faces still contemplative.

"But if I wanted to kiss you?"

"I think you should."

Aubrey opened her mouth, needing that final confirmation, needing to hear the official 'yes, we are doing this' but instead she closed it, deciding that maybe she wouldn't press. She already felt better than she had all day.

They were going to do this. She didn't need to hear those exact words in that exact order.

They had just said it.

They were doing this.

She was sitting between them, both of them leaning in now against her.

She liked the feel of them like this. She liked their different scents, the different weights of them and postures.

They didn't stay much longer after that, both insisting that they had to get home and get ready for the next day.

Aubrey walked hand in hand with them to the front door and then they all paused, looking at the door and then between themselves.

"We're really gonna have to figure out _a lot_ of things on our own, aren't we? How do we say goodnight?" Beca asked.

Aubrey shook her head, stammering out, "How do you want to say goodnight?" She watched as Beca looked to Chloe and they smiled at one another for a moment. It was strange. There was so much that they were going to need to learn to do.

"Maybe we're all just overthinking this." Chloe offered, "Bree said that everyone described their relationships as totally normal. Maybe that's what we need to be doing."

Beca nodded, her face thoughtful as she stepped up to Aubrey. The action was so small, and the look on Beca's face so serious that it shouldn't have blanked Aubrey's mind the way that it did. She just waited, wanting to see what Beca was going to do next.

She was surprised, perhaps stupidly so when Beca, worrying her bottom lip, cupped her face. Aubrey had just a moment to lose herself in the sweetness of the nerves in Beca's look before Beca kissed her. She was so small, so short that Aubrey had to lean down to reach her properly but something about that Beca seemed to like. She felt Beca's breath leave her quickly and then she stepped into Aubrey, her hands running down Aubrey's throat and landing on her collarbones as she all but forced Aubrey's lips to part. From behind them Aubrey heard a little squeak, but she couldn't tell if Chloe had just made the noise because they were kissing or if Aubrey had hurt her fingers when her hand had convulsed, squeezing Chloe's own smooth fingers with a sudden aching grip.

Why were they leaving? Why would they ever leave? They should stay.

Beca pulled away a bit suddenly, as though she realized she had pushed too far, making Aubrey's head spin. The smile she gave her was small and shy before she reached back and took Chloe's hand again.

She was still dizzy when Chloe gave her cheek a stroke and placed a long, shockingly soft kiss on her lips.

"Try not to overthink this tonight."

Aubrey nodded, not fully sure what she was agreeing to but just feeling like she should agree. She watched them head out of the gate and her thoughts began to swirl again. What would they do when Beca dropped Chloe off? Would they kiss too? Of course they would, she chided herself, but - Would they...would there be more than kissing? They wouldn't - do _much_ more than that, right? Then again, they had not discussed how their… _physical_ relationship should work. She wasn't sure that she knew.

 _Rules._

Next time she saw them they would discuss rules and in the meantime, she turned and searched out her computer. She had more research to do. She opened google and searched 'the physical relationship of a Triad'.

* * *

It felt strange to go back to work the next morning. Something so large had happened in her life and yet she had gone to work like normal. Well, perhaps not entirely like normal. She had been distracted all morning, her thoughts fluttering around Chloe and Beca. If she were being honest, she often thought of them during the day but she rarely let her daydreams overtake her; turning her into a zombie until Chad snapped in front of her face or one of her employees gave her a worried look.

That was in every way her today though. When she looked down at the order sheets she needed to complete, she was thinking of something funny that Beca said. Pouring herself a cup of coffee in the break room, her mind was busy drifting through the sound of Chloe humming as they walked through the dusty antique shop so that she forgot about the coffee and overfilled her cup.

She just wanted to get through her day quietly and go home.

Would she see them tonight? Would she see them more now that they had changed?

"Are you even listening to me? It was the best thing ever!" Chad cried while Donald, Chad's new assistant snickered.

"Bumper, man, where'd you get it?"

"I dunno, at that place on Tchoupitoulas," he shrugged, looking at his new assistant like he couldn't understand why he was speaking at all.

Aubrey's lips just pursed and she continued her task, rewriting the huge whiteboard monthly calendar that Chad had ruined. She had told him time and time again, if they were going to work on separate accounts then they needed to make sure the calendar was up to date and there was room for both of them. Chad usually nodded in agreement and then scrawled his appointments and lists of crew across the entire square, leaving no room for Aubrey's tall and looping hand.

She wasn't even sure why both men were in her office and she was even less sure of why her brother was going on and on about his stupid sandwich like this. She was trying to concentrate. The way he talked about his seafood muffuletta was bordering on pornographic and it was not helping her propensity toward vomiting.

"Seriously, there was butter dripping down my face. It looked like a stick of it nut on me and I didn't even care. That's how good it was."

"Chad!" Aubrey scowled, erased the mistake she had just made and then started again.

From on the desk behind her she heard the soft chime of her group chat with Beca and Chloe and crossed the room fast, scooping it up. She hadn't meant to leave her phone on the table with Chad. He had a bad habit of trying to snoop through her phone despite her passcode lock.

She must have been obvious though as she turned back to the whiteboard and opened the text because for the first time in an hour, Chad stopped talking.

"Oh thank god for small miracles," she muttered, sending him a death glare and then paused mid step, the phone held protectively to her chest. She didn't like the look on his face. Without having read the text yet she snapped her screen off so the phone would lock.

"What-what was that?"

"What?" She asked in her best casual voice, shoving her phone as deeply as it would go into her front pocket, which was not very far at all, and turned back to her job. She did not want him to notice that the sound that had just played was a specific one, different from her normal text sound. She doubted he paid that much attention to her but it would be her luck for him to notice today.

"Who's texting you, Bree?"

"What?" She rolled her eyes at him, "That is none of your business!"

"Let me see."

She pushed her phone deeper into her pocket, wishing that it fit better. "No."

He gasped, "Do you have a boyfriend, Virgin Mary?"

"Chad," Aubrey groaned.

"Oh my god!" He squealed, "Oh my god, is it a dick pic? Is it bigger than mine? Let me see!"

She scoffed, "It wouldn't be hard to be."

She hadn't meant to say it at all. It was her general rule to calm him down or ignore him when he was like this, not to engage in any way - and in reality she had no idea if what she had said was true. She didn't know or want to know that about him. He, however, had been talking about his sandwich like it was sex for at least fifteen minutes and she had been aggravated so the words had just popped out of her mouth without her permission.

He had gotten up from _her_ office chair behind her desk and now, with Aubrey's insult, he let out a high-pitched gasp and all but screamed, "Let me see!"

"Chad! We are _adults_. Can we please act like it? I respect your privacy, now please respect mine."

"No, really, I can't. Let me see! Let me see!" He cried, trying to reach into her pocket.

She turned, trying to ignore him, "Donald. Go do something else, please."

Donald grinned but he did as he was told, as slowly as possible.

"I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Chad. Please, stop it. _Chad!_ "

He had been dodging this way and that trying to find a way in. Annoyed he gave up and Aubrey let out a yelp. He had grabbed the cartilage of her ear and twisted, yanking down so fast that before she had even fully registered she had dropped down to one knee. It was the trick he had used all through his teenage years and she was less than happy to know it still worked, and hurt.

"God damn it!" She cried, humiliated and furious as he used her thumb to open her phone.

He read the text and groaned, "God you're so boring, nut bread," and he dropped it on the floor, making a graphic hand gesture.

"Chad! That is rude and demeaning and inappropriate! We are at work! Stop calling me that!"

"Aawe, boo-hoo, what are you going to do? You gonna tell dad? I'm getting a cup of coffee, you want one?"

She stared after him, her mouth hanging open and tears welling in her eyes. How was it he could behave that way and then move on as though it was completely normal? A wave of furious hate filled her and she had to clench her teeth to avoid yelling after him.

She sat back behind her desk when he was gone, tears swimming and biting her lip.

This was not how life was supposed to be. This was not how her life was supposed to be. She had to figure out something. She couldn't keep doing this. She loved this business but this was just not sustainable.

In the end her brother would eventually get bored and move on, she knew that. She also had no idea how long that would take.

There had to be something that she could do.

Her brother strolled back into her office a few minutes later with two cups of coffee. "I spit in that," he said as he handed over her favorite coffee mug.

The problem was that this city fit his personality a little too much. How long would he want to stick around?

"Did you really, Chad?"

"Bumper."

"Chad."

"Bumper!"

"Did you spit in this?"

"Call me Bumper and I'll tell you."

"Really, Chad?"

"I don't know. Why don't you drink it and let me know?"

Resolutely she pushed the cup away, pulling out a few documents to read over.

"Whatever, toe jam," he shrugged, "I'm gonna have sex tonight so I have to go shave my balls."

She recoiled at that, images flashing through her mind that she didn't want at all, "That's disgusting, Chad."

"You're just jealous that I'm getting some and you're not. Seriously, Aubs," he groaned as she took a seat on her desk and patted her shoulder. "You really need to get some. Uncork. You know."

She let out a menacing growl that even her brother had the smarts to move away from. She knew she was a little touchy about this subject, she _knew_ that. She also knew that right now, today, the day after she had two beautiful, kind, wonderful, _sexy_ women in her bed and had done nothing about it, that was probably not a good day to bring sex up or the fact that she had not had it in a very long time. Anger lashed through her, fed by the steady pulse of pain in her ear. "Oh please, _Chad_ , what woman would let you have sex with her? I can't imagine who she would be since the name _'Bumper'_ doesn't exactly speak well to your _sexual prowess_. That sounds like a little boy who is just discovering his penis."

His face dropped, all expression wiping clean as he registered what she had said. His stupid eyes blinked, his mouth in a round O. "Yaow," he suddenly bellowed, "kitty got claws!" And then he just stood there for a solid thirty seconds, looking like a boy that had forgotten his line in the school play. The confusion was a little cruelly satisfying. "Well I will have you know," he finally cried, backing away and all but pouting, "that lots of women want up on this and I have a date tonight so fuck you, Aubrey." His face was turning pink. He looked like he was about to have a tantrum. She must have really gotten him where it hurt. "See this," he suddenly shouted, "this is why I don't want to be in business with you anymore!"

"What?" She looked up, hopeful. This had to be a good thing, right?

He saw her face and he sneered right back. "Oh yeah. I'm tired of it! Tired of it! I'm tired of how uptight you are and how _bitchy_ you are." He spat. "All the time! What, are you _always_ on the rag? This is why no one likes you, not our employees or clients. This is why the business is going to _fail!_ "

What? The business was coming out of the red. It had been since they had begun to separate their clients. What was he - but then her eyes rolled when she realized that those weren't his words but instead the words of their father. She could almost hear him saying it, _'Son, if you can't get your sister to be more personable then the business is going to fail. No one likes working with people that uptight.'_ Which was ironic because the few times that she was 'loose' about things were also the times that he told her she needed to stiffen up her act.

She growled again, furious. Her father had seen the books. He knew the business was coming out of the red and though he would never admit it, she _knew_ that he was aware of why they were coming out of the red. She knew that he was aware of how hard she had been working. "If you have a problem with how I run the business then you can just fuck off and eat your shorts, Chad!" She had risen to her feet, her fingers steepled on the edges of her desk.

Her brother took an alarmed step back and then, seeming to realize he did it, he scoffed. "Yeah. Real nice. Totally my point, Pee-Bree." He flipped her off and then stormed from the office.

She watched him go, hearing her phone go off again.

She had no idea what that had meant but maybe that was stage one of his eventual departure. If nothing else, she had just learned that she could scare him, a discovery she appreciated. She sat back in her chair, prim as ever, imagining for the first time that day a very different kind of scene. If Chad got angry and stormed away from the business then it would be all hers, fair and square. She would be able to run it efficiently, effectively and with pride.

She pursed her lips and gave a small nod. Yes, she would hope that her brother got angry enough to run all the way back to the beaches of California.

She opened her phone and read the messages. The first was from Beca asking in an overly polite she-must-be-nervous voice if they could do something that night. The next was from Chloe, apologizing because she was doing a tour for herself and then one for Stacie so she wouldn't be off of work until one. The last message was in a private thread from Beca asking how she felt about taking a ghost tour that night.

Aubrey was pleased not to see Chad for the rest of the day. She efficiently got her work done and even was able to leave thirty minutes early because of it. She got home and showered her day off of her. She then changed into a soft sweater and jeans. Next she blow-dried her hair and, a few bobby pins between her teeth, she began to pull her hair up. At the last second she reconsidered, letting her honey-blonde hair fall back to her shoulders.  
She had seen the looks from Chloe and Beca both of the times that she had worn her hair down. She didn't often do it. Perhaps it was her father's military upbringing, perhaps it was that she had only seen her mother with her hair down a few times in her life, or perhaps it was that all of her childhood photos had been plagued with buns and braids. The way that the girls had looked at her when she let it go was something she liked. The way they looked at her made her feel beautiful; a thought which made her blush and laugh at herself. Still, she brushed her hair so it framed her face and with a secret smile into the mirror, she moved on to her makeup.

Beca's apartment was on the way to the Quarter for Aubrey so they decided that she should just drive; so forty-five minutes later Aubrey picked her up.

She wasn't sure what to do when Beca slid into the car, her face one large grin. Did she lean over and kiss her? She wanted to. Her hair was down and fluffier than usual but her red plaid flannel shirt and skinny jeans were so her - and so attractive, so hot. Aubrey's fingers twitched, wondering which would be softer: the material of her shirt or the skin underneath. She didn't know what to do but the way that Beca was smiling at her made her feel foolish in a good way so she just reached over and carefully gave her arm a little squeeze.

Beca laughed, seeming to understand. Aubrey's eyes rolled but she didn't respond.

"You know," Aubrey frowned, having just pulled into the Basin St Station parking lot, "if we're going to keep seeing Chloe then maybe one of us needs to rent a parking space and carpool each time. The parking down here is beginning to become worrisome." She glanced at Beca, a grin already growing as suddenly her finger shot into the air. "Not it!" She cried as Beca's finger slammed down on her nose.

"Okay!" Beca cried, pointing to her polite finger in the air. "That is _so_ not how you play that!"

"What? Of course it is!"

"Dude! No!" She must have looked confused because Beca broke into laughter, "That is like the politest version ever. Oh my god, that is so you."

"What?" Aubrey rolled her eyes,."I will have you know, that is how my family has _always_ played that game."

"Uh huh." Beca nodded, "Honestly, I'm surprised by the fact that you even played at all."

"Well." Aubrey's lips gave a haughty purse, "It is clear that I won."

"You did not!"

"I did so."

"Oh my god," Beca rolled her eyes, laughing openly at her and yet Aubrey wasn't offended.

"We're early."

"Yup."

"Should we just stay here until the tour is about to begin? It wouldn't be much of a surprise if we showed up early."

"True." Beca smirked that dry, witty smirk that Aubrey loved, "We could uh," she jerked her head back, "spend a while making out in the back seat."

Aubrey's stomach seemed to drop out of her body. Her mouth popped open and closed again as her hands clutched at the steering wheel.

"Do you think Chloe would be okay with that?"

Aubrey needed another second before she was able to speak, "I don't think any of us would be completely comfortable with seeing the other two do that yet."

"Yet?"

"Yes!" Aubrey grinned, turning a little in her seat.

"Uh oh. You've done more research."

Aubrey paused, "How did you know?"

"You looked all excited. Never mind, don't worry about it. What did you find out?"

"Well." Aubrey took a deep breath, unable to deny the pleasure of being able to answer a question thoroughly. "I _have_ been researching. I've been researching the _physical_ relationship of a Triad."

"Oh yeah?" Beca's throat gave a gulp and she pulled her legs up to her, wrapping her arms around them.

"Yes."

"And?"

"And, unfortunately it seems different for everyone. They also emphasize on the fact that each relationship needs to do what feels right for them, not as a Triad but individually."

"You mean like you with Chloe, me with Chloe, and you and I?"

"Exactly. The most successful stories I have come across are Triads that are comfortable with sex as a Triad as well as sex as couples within the relationship. What I have read harps on the idea that a Triad is _four_ relationships in one and we need to honor that."

"Okay," Beca's eyelashes fluttered for a moment and Aubrey worried that perhaps she was talking too much or going too fast. "So in other words, the end goal would be eventually pretty much being okay with knowing that the others might be doing something we wish we could get in on, right?"

"I suppose so. I'm not sure. I think, I think that might take some work for all of us." Aubrey admitted. And she was fairly sure that kind of comfort could not be developed until _after_ they had - she swallowed and tried to get her cheeks to cool.

"Right." Beca nodded, her face thoughtful, "Maybe, but I dunno, I kind of _like_ watching you and Chloe."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Is that weird? Okay, I mean, like, I'm weirded out by myself the entire time that I'm liking it but yeah, being between you two was kind of, I dunno, good, I guess."

Aubrey knew that the grin on her face was a bit foolish but she couldn't seem to stop it. Warmth had flooded her chest. She liked having this conversation with Beca. She liked the way that Beca listened to her. She leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Beca's lips, enjoying the way that Beca squirmed to get a little closer. "I think we should go inside."

"Yeah." Beca nodded, her eyes on her lips. "Probably smart. Until we, uh, yup. Let's do - that."

They walked into the building together, Aubrey's mind distracted. Could she hold Beca's hand? Perhaps it was smarter not to do anything that set apart who was in the couple - the relationship - in a place so connected to one of them. She wasn't sure if some of the things she had read were true, if there was really a reason to fear people discovering them. She couldn't imagine. But just in case.

"Hey!" Stacie was behind her usual desk.

"Hey!" Beca grinned and started over, "I thought you were off tonight."

Stacie rolled her eyes, "I was supposed to be. Chloe's covering my tour so I can cover Mark's shift. Whatever." She picked up her nail file again. "What's up guys, you looking for Chlo?" She asked, her eyes shrewd and a little jealous.

"Yes." Aubrey nodded, seeing Stacie's cautious glance. She wasn't sure what she had done to Stacie when they had met but Stacie still hadn't gotten over it, even after their drunken night in the Quarter.

"She's not here." Stacie frowned, pausing her nail filing. "She's doing a ghost tour. Not a history tour."

"Shit!"

"If you hurry you'll just make it."

"Come on," Beca pulled Aubrey toward the door.

"Jackson Square on the Chartres side!" Stacie called after them, "When you see her remind her that I want to hang out with her sometimes soon too!"

"Okay!" Beca dismissively called behind them.

Aubrey had just enough time to see Stacie slump behind her desk, a look of frustration on her face before Beca pulled her from the room.

They did make it, but only just. They barely had enough time to sneak into the shop and buy their tour tickets before they could hear Chloe's voice gathering people outside. With smug grins they rushed to join the crowd, pushing until they broke through to the front and far side.

"Jesus." Beca all but moaned.

The first time that Aubrey had seen Chloe's night time attire she had been stunned, too stunned to really notice what her body was doing or feeling. She had never found the attraction to gothic attire in her youth, it screamed of disorder. This time, aided by the blatant look on Beca's face...Aubrey noticed.

Chloe was in the front of the tour group in long leathery leggings, a lace covered corset top with a zipper up the middle, a black blazer and tall, high black boots. Her hair had been wildly combed, her eyes painted with dark eye shadow, her lips blacked and to cover it all, she wore a delicate mardi gras mask made from thinly spun black metal that looked more like lace until it caught the light and glittered.

She looked - terrifying, Aubrey thought. She looked terrifying and so alluring. Looking around the group she felt a pang of jealous anger as she realized that many of them seemed to be sharing her opinions. It made her want to hide the pale skin under the corset, it made her want to claim it for her own.

She glanced down at Beca, amused when Beca was just staring at Chloe, a blankly dazed look on her face.

Chloe cleared her throat, her hands coming up to grab everyone's attention, "Good evening, ladies and -" she paused, her air of a woman of mystery popping for a moment when she saw them and, almost without thought, she rolled her eyes and laughed.

Aubrey just smirked back.

It was strange being back in this situation with the two of them on such _different_ terms. Aubrey and Beca didn't distract Chloe - at least, not really. They listened as she told them stories, giving a few more architectural facts than a ghost tour needed which made Aubrey wonder if she was giving them for her. Chloe was amazing to watch in her element, was amazing as she tried to get through her speech at the LaLaurie house, her cheeks a permanent pink.

When they paused for their mid-tour break at Laffite's Blacksmith Shop she felt Beca's hand softly press to the small of her back as she whispered, "So, um, if you're going to make a scene then I would say right now is probably the best time."

"Shall I? Should I start yelling?" She laughed a little, surprised that making fun of herself didn't sting. She was sure that had something to do with Beca's hand on her back.

"I mean, history does repeat itself, right?" The fingers of Beca's hand began to sway, lightly stroking in place and it drove whatever witty comeback she had planned from her mind.

She just looked at her. She liked the way that Beca was looking up at her. She liked the way that she was touching her. She gave a small little laugh as Beca smirked, aware of what she was doing.

"Oh my," she rolled her eyes at herself, but she also stepped in a little closer.

Chloe tried desperately to make it over to them throughout the break but, as they were beginning to see, the evening tours were not the same as the day. They had heard this over and over again and while Chloe made it a step closer every few minutes, her finger coming up in an apologetic hold on, her alarm went off before she could actually make it to them. Chloe shot them an apologetic look and then rushed off the opposite direction.

They didn't mind. They walked side by side, bodies brushing on occasion and sending one another small smiles whenever that happened.

"So," Chloe stopped so suddenly that the group had to stumble and tilt in order to not run her down, "I'm going to tell you a story that most of you haven't heard. It's a little controversial so many guides don't tell it, but I have some friends here and they have heard everything else, so we're going to stop here tonight."

Aubrey looked down, the warmth in her cheeks making her a little shy. Chloe had acknowledged them and it had gone to her head like liquor.

Chloe just gave her a long smirk before she began the story, "This bar right here is known for being one of the Quarters best sports bars, something you don't see very often down here, right?"

" _Who dat!_ " Someone yelled from the back of the group and there was a cheer from a few locals walking by, including Chloe. Aubrey was fairly sure that Chloe didn't care much for football but she imagined that it probably wasn't smart to admit that while on a tour, right beside a sports bar, in a city that was as proud of their team as New Orleans was.

"Well," Chloe continued, her eyes brushing over Aubrey and Beca in a way that felt like a caress, "forty-three years ago the space above this one was something very different from what it is now. It was a bar called the Upstairs Lounge. It was one of the only gay bars in the area."

Aubrey subtly looked around, trying to judge people's reaction to this news but it seemed that no one had one.

Chloe didn't seem to think that this space being a gay bar once was news because she just moved on, "The bar was not big at all, only holding about seventy-five people at one time so, thankfully, the fifty people in the bar did not fill it to capacity. It was early evening when someone discovered that the only entrance - and _exit_ from the club was on fire. Someone had come in from the outside and had purposely set it, trapping all fifty people inside. The bar went up very quickly. A few people escaped through the fire. One man decided to jump through the flames, 'I thought that would be better than being dead', he told the authorities later. A few people who were very thin had been able to fit through the bars on the upstairs windows, but thirty-two of the fifty did not find escape. The fire burned well into the night, taking most of this building with it. There are photos available inside as well as a few up at Basin Station and they are horrifying." She looked up at the building, her mask glittering in the glow of the streetlamp, giving her a menacing air. "They did their best to match the bodies they found after the fire was finally put out, however before Hurricane Katrina this case held the record for number bodies to remain unclaimed post city catastrophe. I would like to say that I don't know why, but the reason was easy to discover. Coming forward and claiming the body meant that the family would also have to come forward and admit they had a homosexual child. This was the seventies and people were afraid." With a pause for a sigh, she went on, "It soon came to light that a man named Roger Dale Nunez was a suspect, as a matter of fact, he was the only suspect because Nunez all but confessed. He was caught one night laughing and bragging and yet no charges were ever filed against him."

"Why?" Beca cried, her face tight.

Chloe gave a somber head shake, "In the early seventies the attitude toward the LGBTQA community was not a pleasant one, even in a city as progressive as New Orleans. Most of the city stood behind the local law enforcement's inaction, believing that, and I quote, 'they got what they deserved'." She paused again, giving her tour a stern look as though daring anyone to agree.

No one did.

"It's no surprise, of course, that this is the home of many strange encounters. To this day, it's said that the stairwell leading up to the second and third story is always uncomfortably warm. The owner has done everything in his power to cool it and yet it always feels like it is a hot summer day in there. A few researchers have come in and gathered a number of EVPs within the walls. Some of the recordings are jumbled, but there are many in which you can hear a number of people laughing, some speaking and one or twice even calling the researcher's name. While a few have reported seeing people walking around the building, only to disappear a few moments later, the strangest things about this location actually happen _outside_ of the building. To this day the local police report getting phone calls about this spot claiming that the caller heard agonized screaming coming from the building. Many of them can be reported as pranks, however, I had the local sheriff on my tour once and he said that he would count many of these calls as real. He said that the terror in their voices would be hard to fake. The other thing that has been reported comes from our tours. Time and time again tour goers have suddenly burst into tears while out front of this building. And while the tale of so bad a mass murder is moving, often the tearful guest would admit that they were not upset, not sad but simply could not stop crying for reasons that were completely unknown to them." She gave them all an expectant smile, like she thought that one of them might suddenly begin to cry. When no one did she smirked, "Alright, follow me. Let's turn this way and start making our way back to Jackson Square."

Aubrey and Beca waited for a bit once the tour was finished, knowing they weren't going to be able to drag Chloe away but hoping that they might at least be able to say hello. When she finally rushed over her face was a little frantic.

"I have ten minutes! Hi!"

"You look _so_ hot!"

They both turned to look at Beca, who was blinking at them a little confused. She looked a bit like she had just been hit over the head with a club.

"Sorry," she muttered, shaking her head. "Didn't mean to say that."

Chloe just laughed, gently touching either of their arms, "I wish I could go home with you guys instead of doing this last tour!"

Beca just gave a high, tittering laugh. "You know what?" She mumbled, "I'm just uh, I'm gonna get some air." She turned, her head shaking and walked away.

"Is she okay?" Chloe asked, her eyebrows high.

Aubrey smiled after her, "I think so. She's right though, Chloe. You look -" but then she couldn't find the words.

Chloe's beaming grin twisted, her look something altogether new. Aubrey felt something squirm to life in her belly.

"So. Did you like the tour?"

"We did." She stammered, "We did."

"Good." Chloe grinned, swallowing the last bit of her water, her eyes never leaving Aubrey's.

It was almost too much.

"I-" she cleared her throat but she had nothing to say, "why don't you let me fill that up for you. You'll need it for the next tour, right?" She asked, trying hard to stand her ground and hold the eye contact that Chloe was keeping.

"Yes. I will. Thank you, Aubrey."

Aubrey licked her lips and nodded. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she didn't know what she could possibly say while they were in public so she just turned, chuckling. That warmth was back in her chest, that fond affection.

The bar beside them was filled to the brim and she had to fight to get through the crowd. She worried for a moment that perhaps the bartender would be unwilling to take the time and fill her bottle for her but when she told him it was for Chloe the tour guide he took it, filled it and also brought her a styrofoam cup of coffee. She thanked him and started pushing her way through the crowd again.

Her mind was a bit occupied as she left the bar, enjoying the way it felt to do something so - _girlfriend like_ for Chloe. That was why it took her a second to understand what she was seeing.

Beca had Chloe tight against the metal fence, not seeming to care that people were walking up and down the street, not seeming to care that they were in public at all. She had her hot against the bars and even from Aubrey's distance she could see that Chloe was a puddle in her hands, her head back, her hands wrapped around the bars behind her while her chest rose and fell fast.

Aubrey blinked, staring in shock as Beca leaned forward, saying something into Chloe's ear. She saw Chloe shudder and -

Hot raw anger ripped through her so fast that it was blinding.

She had only just left! They _knew_ she would be coming back. They _knew_ she was not far! They were in public! They were in front of everyone and -

Jealousy, blatant, sticky jealousy ripped through her, rattling her body and shaking her to her core. She had never felt it in such hot flashes before, she had never felt it so strongly that it burned her insides. She turned, ready to leave. She needed to leave. She wanted to leave. Only, she had Chloe's water bottle in her hand.

You know what? It was fine. She would just give it to her and she would go.

Her back straight, she marched over to them, her heart hammering in her throat, set down the drinks and turned to go but a hand had caught her by the wrist. She let out a snarl, turning to yell, to bite, to force her to get her hand off of her.

The sight before her was distracting, the flush that spread clearly over Chloe's throat and chest, the way she was bent with her shoulders resting on the cold metal behind her while the rest of her body was bowed into Beca; the way that Beca was holding her up with one arm around Chloe's waist, her face flushed as she pulled herself from her hiding spot and turned ever so slightly. They were both breathless and Aubrey found that for a split second she was distracted, she was too distracted to remember she was angry.

Beca's voice was thick, full of guttural gravel as she spoke just loud enough for them to hear. Chloe twitched and let out a small moan in anticipation of hearing the words again. "I just told her that I wanted to see what her black lipstick would look like," Beca turned and looked her dead in the eye, "on the inside of your thighs."


	15. Chapter 15

**_Chloe_**

* * *

Chloe was all but climbing out of Aubrey's car before they even came to a full stop.

"Chloe!" Aubrey screeched, slamming on the brakes despite the fact that she wasn't fully in her parking spot yet. " _You can't just get out of a moving car!_ "

"Oh snap!" Chloe sent Aubrey a grin, hoping that it was charming enough that Aubrey wouldn't be too annoyed with her. "Sorry, Bree!"

Aubrey just rolled her eyes, openly annoyed.

"What can I say? I was raised in a barn!" She said with a shrug.

Aubrey just stared at her, seemingly unsure of exactly what that meant.

"Oh my gosh, come on, gorgeous," Chloe laughed.

That made Aubrey move, her cheeks going pink.

She was just _excited,_ that was all! They had literally never spent time at Beca's place before, and while she was super eager to do that, it was more about the music. Beca had never invited them over to hear some of her music. As a matter of fact, Beca had been thus far very private about it so Chloe couldn't wait and while Aubrey hadn't said it, she was pretty sure that Aubrey was just as excited as she was. She just showed it differently...by not really showing it at all.

Aubrey came around the side of the car and Chloe caught her, pulling her into a hug. "Sorry!"

Aubrey's lips just pursed, that slightly tired look on her face.

That slowed Chloe down a little. She had seen it a few times now and hadn't understood it, not until their date.

She had loved their date, it had been amazing, filled with hushed talks of history, politics, and the city. Well, that had been the second half of the date anyway. In the beginning, she had pulled Aubrey from the small artisan tea shop where they had begun and into three antique shops in quick succession. Aubrey's face had looked a little worn by the second and downright exhausted and stressed by the third. It wasn't until Aubrey had asked for a moment to sit with her still warm tea that Chloe had realized that the face was because she made Aubrey tired. _She made Aubrey tired._ That wasn't a huge surprise; her mother used to say that 'a happy Chloe could wear down the roadrunner'. Still, she had been upset to realize it. They were supposed to find which one fit them and she adored Aubrey. She adored her so much, so the idea that she might overwhelm her or possibly be too much for her had broken her heart. It had been enough to slow her down, to make her sit beside her and talk in a quiet voice. She wanted Aubrey enough that seeing her stressed had made her slow her hyperactive and excited ways.

"Did I tell you," Chloe did her best to slow herself now, taking a deep breath and smiling, "that you look really beautiful?" She placed a soft kiss on her cheek, her hands resting on Aubrey's arms.

Aubrey's smile grew, some of the tension leaving her face. "You do too, Chloe."

They had both dressed up a little bit for the evening. Beca didn't know it yet but they had brought over enough food to feed a village and were going to cook her dinner. It was going to be amazing; totally relationship-y.

"Come on!" She grinned, her excitement nearly bubbling over.

They grabbed the bags and headed up the few stairs to Beca's door.

"Let me guess," Beca smirked at them as she pulled the door open, "neither of you dressed up, right?"

Chloe grinned, taking in Aubrey's wool dress again just because she could and then gave Beca a coy smirk. "I didn't say that." And she clicked inside, the sound of she and Aubrey's heels on Beca's tile floors seeming to emphasize Beca's point.

"I see you got a couch."

Chloe gasped, turning to Aubrey. "I forgot you actually have been here before. Jelly!" She gave Aubrey a wink.

The place was nothing to write home about. After Hurricane Katrina there had been an influx of grants to help rebuild as many homes as possible, something that should have been a good thing and perhaps was, in a way. It had helped resuscitate some of the grandest homes and some of the ninth ward had been carefully reconstructed; not much, but some. However, what had also happened were many companies had gone through the city and built houses as cheaply as possible, creating something far less elegant than a college dorm and that barely passed most regulations, then pocketing the leftover money. It was clear immediately that this was one of those shotgun styled homes. The walls were slightly off color, the floor was hard tile which had cracked in many places and as they walked into the kitchen the found that there was little to no counter space. It didn't help that Beca had not bothered to decorate at all.

"So um," Beca frowned, "What's this? I thought we were ordering a pizza?" Her bottom lip jutted out, "'Mellow Mushroom'? No?"

"Why have something unhealthy when we can have something healthy instead?" Aubrey asked, her eyes twinkling as though she already knew what Beca's opinion on that would be.

"Um," Beca rolled her eyes right back, "because something unhealthy is so much better tasting."

"You only say that because you haven't tasted this meal yet."

"You know what I have tasted, Bree? Pizza. Specifically the barbecue chicken pizza from 'Mellow Mushroom'."

Aubrey gave a scoff in return.

Chloe smiled as she watched the two interact, Beca complaining and yet pulling the groceries out of the bag anyway. She still wasn't sure about this _Triad_ thing. It seemed like something that she doubted would work for long, but it would serve its purpose. Plus, it was harder to be unsure of it when she was near them. Anyway, she adored them enough that she was willing to give it a try despite her reservations. How could she not? She had met them and things had suddenly changed for her. She had friends before them, as a matter of fact she was a social butterfly. She had so many friends that she couldn't count them, but she had never had friends that somehow understood her soul like this. What was it that Anne said? 'Bosom friends'. And that made her giggle to herself because while Anne had meant the very best or best friends, Chloe couldn't help but to think that there was a good chance of one of these girls becoming her _bosom friend_ as well.

"I refuse to allow you to discredit my dinner before you even try it, Beca."

"I'm not discrediting it as much as sure that it won't be as greasy as pizza."

"Damn right."

Chloe listened to them banter back and forth arguing over which type of food was better and she wanted to sing. Friendship or otherwise, these women were awesome.

"So." Beca said, her hands running through her hair before they settled on the back of her hips. "You basically just got most of the tour when you came in." Beca shrugged. "Living room, kind of, bedroom, that door is the bathroom, um, kitchen and yeah," she pushed open the far door and Chloe gasped, loving the room before she even entered it.

Beca had done her best to soundproof the area, padding down the walls and adding carpets to the floor which made sense seeing as how the room was filled with music equipment. Chloe had never seen so much in one place before. It was clear that Beca was right in the middle of working too, all the machinery was up and awake, whirring happily.

"I only have a few more hours of work to do," Beca grimaced, "I'm sorry, guys. Is that cool? I'm sorry. I'm just really behind."

Aubrey was already nodding her head, reaching for the last item in the bag and pulling out a book, "It's alright Beca, we brought some work as well." Chloe watched as Aubrey turned, picked up her bag that held her dissertation and clicked her way to the living room to deposit their things. She wasn't sure, but Chloe thought that as she passed the bathroom and the makeshift bedroom, she saw Aubrey throw the large bed a furtive glance. She couldn't really blame her. Beca's bed was just _right there._ The place where Beca slept. The place where she slip off her clothes to sleep, and dream and, perhaps on occasion, other things. She couldn't blame Aubrey's distraction.

Aubrey placed the bag down and carefully pulled out the large binder.

A moment of nerves passed through Chloe as she watched that, thinking of the task ahead. She and Aubrey had been talking about her dissertation since mid-July and so far Aubrey had been an absolute lifesaver. Despite her tendency to be a little too pushy and organized in life, she wasn't that way at all with Chloe's work. As a matter of fact, Aubrey had been solidly respectful, listening to Chloe's ideas and opinions and politely offering her own. She was so grateful because her dissertation was her life, something she had been working on for so long and she didn't think she could handle Aubrey ripping it apart or steering her with an iron fist. For being a little bit of a ball buster she could have a very gentle hand and she loved that about Aubrey. She had been the sounding board that Chloe hadn't realized she needed. Now she was ready. She was going to start from the very beginning and she was going to get it into shape. She was going to finish her Doctorate and then she was going to sail away into the sunset and never think about school again.

"Yeah, Beca," Chloe winked, remembering the topic at hand. "This is why we're here and not at Bree's, remember?"

Beca gave a nod but still looked guilty so Chloe spun her, giving her neck a quick and affectionate kiss and pushed her into her room.

"Bossy!" Beca shouted back.

"Did you call me?" Aubrey turned, her head poking out from around the living room doorway, and, after exchanging a look, Beca and Chloe laughed until they were in tears.

"So." Aubrey asked, her leg politely crossed over the other as she nestled into the far corner of Beca's couch. "Are you ready?"

"Breeeee!" Chloe rolled her eyes, plopping down in the middle and giving Aubrey's legs a tug. "You don't have to act like you don't like me anymore."

Aubrey looked confused so Chloe, refusing to spend the next few hours so far away, scooted in so close that Aubrey's legs no longer had room unless she put them over Chloe's. She got it now. Aubrey's distance before, her refusal to relax, her way of always staying just out of physical reach; Aubrey hadn't trusted herself not to do something she shouldn't, or do something that would give away the fact that she was attracted to them. That was so Aubrey and Chloe was super flattered that she had felt that kind of attraction, but she refused to let Aubrey keep it up.

"Oh." Aubrey smirked, "Well, contrary to your belief, I was not avoiding contact."

"Um-hmm." Chloe gave a nod but also pointedly looked at her legs, which still had not come to rest in her lap but instead were twisted a little from Chloe's pulling and yet hovering just to the side of her.

Aubrey gave in then, gently resting her legs over Chloe, who nodded and plopped the large binder on her shins. Aubrey yelped and then reached over to playfully smack her.

"You didn't answer my question."

"What was it again?"

"Are you ready?"

"For this?" She asked, flipping open the binder.

"Yes."

"Not really." She sighed. "It's just over two hundred pages. But I know I'll be pleased when it's done. Assuming of course that they don't hate it, which is a real possibility."

Aubrey smiled a little, reaching over and pushing some of Chloe's hair behind her ear. Chloe froze, surprised. Had Aubrey ever done anything like that before?

"They won't hate it," Aubrey promised, a small smile on her face as her fingers drifted down her jaw to carefully run her thumb over Chloe's bottom lip. "They would be crazy if they did." Her voice was so soft, so kind and yet, Chloe's face suddenly felt hot. She didn't think she was blushing. It was more that the gentle trace of her lips from the woman she had barely kissed had sent the entirety of her blood supply to well under the thumb stroke.

Chloe's mouth popped open, reaching for something to say but in the face of such blatant sweetness and open affection from Aubrey she found that she almost felt shy. She smiled at her from under her lashes, leaned over and kissed her softly before she turned back to the binder, her heart fluttering happily as Aubrey just chuckled and opened her book.

The domesticity of the next hour was something that Chloe just _loved_. She loved sitting with her red pen as she read over her pages in the binder. She loved that printing the pages and having a hard copy to read was Aubrey's idea and that her insistence that reading the paper would be easier on her eyes was right. She loved that Aubrey was beside her. She couldn't help but to watch her from the corner of her eye every now and them. She loved the way that while Aubrey was absorbed in her book, her eyebrows would draw together, her nose scrunching a little as a character did something that she didn't agree with. Other times, Aubrey would rest her head on her palm, leaning against the arm of the couch as she read and her eyes would flutter, gently closing for a minute or two before they opened again and she would continue reading. Chloe would see those things and her heart would give a little flutter and she would find herself missing Beca, wondering how the work was going and if she was enjoying herself. She was very pleased when after a long while Beca came groaning up from the back room and stopped just inside the door, a look on her face that said it _meant_ something to her to come up here and see them like this together...like she liked it.

Beca gave her a huge smile and wordlessly she crossed to the couch to sit beside her.

Chloe watched her coming, pleased that she was there, that she was still smiling at them.

"What?"

Chloe just shook her head and gave Beca a lingering kiss.

She was starting to like this a little bit. She wasn't sure she was allowed to kiss them like she was, but she liked it.

Beca had frozen, mid shifting to get into a more comfortable position when Chloe had kissed her. Now her ears and chest went pink and she awkwardly cleared her throat, unable to look at Chloe fully until the flush faded.

"You done?"

"No," Beca frowned. "Just needed a break."

"Should we start dinner, Beca? I think it should take us about an hour."

"Yeah," Beca nodded thoughtfully at Aubrey's question. "I should probably be done by then."

"Alright," Aubrey nodded, returning to her book but, Chloe couldn't help to notice, inching her feet over so that her heel rested on Beca's thigh.

Chloe glanced at her and was not fooled by the overly innocent way that Aubrey was staring down at the book.

"Don't let me distract you." Beca sighed, settling lightly onto Chloe's shoulder, her hand on Aubrey's ankle.

This was nice. She liked this. She liked being in the middle of them.

She let out a girlish giggle when she felt Beca's tentative lips brush her neck, placing a small kiss there and then another. Small and totally innocent kisses, well as innocent as neck kisses could be, but also totally distracting. She circled something on the page in front of her, only to realize that it wasn't misspelled at all. "That's distracting me."

"Hmm?"

She glanced at Aubrey, not sure if she should feel guilty or strange but the look on Aubrey's face was one she couldn't read. She had definitely looked up and she was watching but...Chloe wasn't sure.

" _Beca_ ," she chided.

Beca snapped away, suddenly recoiling all the way to the opposite side of the couch, a look of horror on her face. "Sorry!" She spluttered out. "Am I not allowed to do that? Sorry! My bad! My uh,"

"No!" Chloe caught one of her waving hands. "I didn't say _that_." She playfully rolled her eyes. "It's just - _distracting_."

"Oh." Beca's smile was slow and lazy and Chloe loved it. She turned back to her paper, doing her best to take advantage of the last few moments before they started cooking; and while she felt Beca lean forward and knew that she and Aubrey were having a silent communication of some kind, she didn't look up. Instead she grinned down at the paper, biting purposefully on the pencil in her hand, the spot where Beca had kissed her still tingling lightly.

Beca groaned her way back to her office a few minutes later, mumbling under her breath and clearly very unhappy to be doing it. Chloe finished the page and then looked up, smiling at Aubrey when she found her already looking at her.

"You ready to cook?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

They gathered everything they needed back out onto the tiny counter space laughing and teasing one another as they went.

"I'm telling you, Bree, fast and hot. It's the way to go."

Aubrey was still shaking her head though, popping one of the bottles of wine they had brought, "No, Chloe. If you go too fast then you lose all of the juices. You need to do it slowly."

"No!" She opened the cupboards to see that Beca did not have wine glasses. She pulled out a few tumblers instead, "You wrap it in paper and you roast it fast and it's amazing. Just try it!"

"That doesn't even make sense. Who taught you how to cook?"

"Hey! Never question a Texan on her cooking ability, especially chicken. Alright? Come on, try it. Rub them down with salt and,"

"See, no, Chloe, no! You _never_ dry brine chicken!" Aubrey was shaking her head in amazement and it was driving Chloe a little nuts.

"Oh my god, you _only_ dry brine a chicken."

"Well, I disagree." Aubrey scoffed, pulling out a bowl to brine their dinner.

"Hey," Chloe grabbed her arm, determined to get her to listen, "don't you dare, lady."

"Chloe, dry brining leads to over salting."

"Dry brining leads to delicious food." She scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes but also taking the bowl and placing it across the kitchen.

"There are other bowls you know."

"Yeah, but you're not going to use them, are you? You're going to listen to me and _try_ it."

"I most certainly will not!"

"Aubrey!' Chloe groaned. Their playful banter was becoming a little less playful and Chloe knew it.

"Beca has had a long day. I want her dinner to be _good_. Not overly salty!"

"Leave me out of this!' Beca called from the next room but they both barely noticed.

"And I have a strict amount of sodium that I allow in my diet so," Aubrey yelped as Chloe grabbed the bowl out of her hand, pinning her to the counter.

This dynamic between them drove her nuts. Or at least it used to...and probably would again. Somehow in this moment though Chloe just found herself laughing as she caught Aubrey and held her by the hips.

"You're not always right, you know." She purred, knowing that she was too close for the Aubrey of the past. This Aubrey though, she watched her lips part in surprise at her sudden proximity.

She wasn't sure if she was really allowed to be closer now, but, she could always give those boundaries a little push and see if they held.

"She's right, Bree!" Beca called from the other room.

"Hey!" Chloe yelled playfully, "I thought you wanted to be left out of this." She smirked when Beca didn't respond.

Actually, now that she thought about it, fighting might be worth it if she got to be this close.

"It's not about being right or wrong," Aubrey tried but Chloe just pressed a little closer, leaning in so that her entire body was flush against Aubrey's longer one.

"See, I think it is."

It was so strange. She had seen Beca and Aubrey that day after they had shared a bed. She had seen the way that Aubrey had taken over her kiss with Beca, had seen her turn the tables so that Beca was the one who was melting in her hands and yet here she was, her body trembling ever so slightly.

Chloe loved it. She wanted to make her tremble more. She reached up and slowly ran two fingers the opposite direction across her hairline and down her temples, sweeping her hair back like she was about to lean in for a kiss. "We'll never know who is right unless you let me," Aubrey's eyebrows blankly rose, "prove myself to you."

She saw the tip of Aubrey's tongue flick out and moisten her bottom lip, her eyes darkening as Chloe's hands ran up Aubrey's side, lightly scratching her ribs through her shirt.

Her response surprised Chloe into freezing. Aubrey's eyes blew wide at the touch, her breath skidding to a stop as it caught in her throat.

Chloe's eyebrows must have been high or there must have been something on her face because Aubrey's cheeks suddenly went pale and she stammered out a small, "I'm sorry."

Chloe didn't want her to apologize. She liked that reaction. She liked the way that when her fingers twitched Aubrey jumped a little. Was she ticklish?

No. Her gut told her that ticklish wouldn't make Aubrey's eyes that intense.

"Is that bad?"

Aubrey's mouth opened with a small, sticky sound as though all the moisture had disappeared from Aubrey's mouth. She waited for her answer but instead Aubrey just gave a small but emphatic head shake.

"Oh." That made her wonder something else.

When was the last time someone had touched Aubrey? When was the last time she had let someone touch her?

"I'm going to prove myself, Bree," she whispered, "So just let me do it this once, okay?" She grinned as she jumped back and grabbed the chicken. She danced back a little bit, shooting her a wink. She couldn't think about the last time that someone touched Aubrey. If she did then she would want to fix that.

Aubrey groaned, her hands pressed into the counter behind her and while it looked like she might start swearing at her, Aubrey instead went to start slicing the vegetables.

Beca reappeared a few minutes later, sniffing the air and eyeing them. "How ya doin' guys?"

"We're good." Chloe beamed, hearing the teasing lilt to Beca's voice and choosing to ignore it.

"Did I just hear a uh, a _moment_ a little bit ago?"

"Mmm," Chloe nodded, shooting Aubrey a glance, her teeth catching her lip as she thought of the temptation again. "Aubrey and I were settling our differences."

"And I missed it? Damn it," she grinned. Her hand fell to the small of Chloe's back and kissed Aubrey's cheek, shoving her way between them, "So what's for dinner?" She asked, grabbing a pecan from the counter and plopping it into her mouth.

" _You are if you don't get on outta here! I'm fixin' to batter you up and throw you in the deep fryer. I ain't foolin'_." Chloe laughed as the pecan Beca just put into her mouth fell right back out, landing with a small clink on the counter. She glanced over to Aubrey to share a she's-so-foolish-and-cute commiserating smile but her laughter died when she saw how she was looking at her. _Why_ were her eyes suddenly that wide? "What?" She gasped out, already feeling her cheeks heat. "I was just kidding! Oh my god!" She was so embarrassed. She had only been teasing! "I was just kidd _ing_ ." She said again when they were both still looking at her, making sure to put extra emphasis on the 'ing'. She had worked _hard_ to get rid of any twang so people would stop making fun of her! But she had only been kidding here and plus, they were Aubrey and Beca, were they really about to make fun of her for this? Her accent was something she didn't find funny, nor liked when other people did. "Guys, stop it!" She finally cried, picking up her tumbler of wine and taking a long drink.

Scoffing a little Beca turned to Aubrey and then back, a look that Chloe didn't quite know in her eyes. "Yeah, Chloe, I think you're misinterpreting what these looks mean. Right, Aubrey? I think it's less of the, I don't know, us laughing at you and more about the whole thinking it's hot thing."

She looked between them, sure they were making fun of her.

"Really." Beca nodded, putting another pecan in her mouth and yelping when Chloe slapped her hands.

"What? Really? But why?"

Aubrey's lips twisted but she didn't respond and Beca, following her example, didn't either.

"It's so gross!" She cried, uncomfortable. She didn't understand why they were looking at her like that. "Oh my god, stop it!"

Beca's hands just went up, backing away to pour herself a glass of wine.

"Chloe," Aubrey tried, "we really are not making fun of you. I think we both really like it."

"I know I do." Beca agreed.

"But _why?_ "

"Um," Beca gave that snarky eye roll and sigh that seemed to be her signature move, "I feel like you're looking for an answer her that is more philosophical than 'because it's hot' and I feel like I can't really help you with that."

"What?"

Beca's face scrunched as she tried to think, "It's really cute, but like, not in a cute-cute way, in a kind of really freaking hot way. Yeah."

Chloe had hated her accent since she was old enough to realize she had one but seeing Beca and Aubrey nodding together she suddenly found that she didn't hate it so much. Maybe she would even have to use it a little more often. She smiled to herself, not saying anything but turning and finishing her job of chopping the nuts.

Beca joined her, leaning against her and yawning. "Tired?"

"I think my brain is melting a little bit. Are you _sure_ you need to hear the music tonight, 'cuz,"

"Yes!" Chloe's hand clapped to her mouth as she jumped. Oops. Hadn't meant to yell but _yes!_ She did! She had been so anxious and excited to finally _know_ Beca that way. She wasn't going to let the chance slip by her.

Beca smirked, "Okay, crazy."

She bit her lip, "Shut up."

The three stayed in the kitchen despite the awkwardness of not having anywhere to sit while cooking. They hadn't meant to but they had started talking and it had just happened. Aubrey told them about work and about her brother's declaration that he didn't want to work with her anymore. Chloe nodded along, smiling as best as she could but when she glanced at Beca she saw that Beca also didn't look completely convinced that this was a good thing.

Chloe...she had a hard time with Aubrey's family. It was partially because she just didn't understand them. They were _family_ , how could they act like this? Also because she just could not stand to see how Bumper treated Aubrey. He was terrible. As Beca often said, he was a giant man child. She resented him for Aubrey and while she didn't like feeling that way, she was sure that she was right to do so. He was horrible.

After their dislike for Aubrey's brother had been thoroughly talked out, Chloe spent some time talking about work and about the patterns she was seeing in her dissertation before the timer went off and Aubrey happily pulled the food out.

She wasn't nervous about her dry brine, not at all, not with how amazing the food smelled. She so was about to win. She should have bet Aubrey a foot rub or something.

"Oh," Aubrey frowned when she turned, the food plated.

"Yeah," Beca shrugged, "Kind of don't have a dining room table - or a dining room. Don't worry, we don't have to hang out here very much."

"Beca, I like being here." Chloe nodded.

"I don't have a dining room table." Beca reminded her, grinning as Aubrey frowned, her look perplexed.

They decided to cram around the living room coffee table, all sitting on the floor. They both did their best not to notice how hard of a time Aubrey had forcing herself to get down on the floor and Aubrey, in turn, pretended that she was not unhappy to be sitting on the floor.

Still, as soon as they all were comfortable the awkwardness was forgotten. Chloe realized she had forgotten the bottle of wine and hopped up. Beca called after her, calling her a lush and their teasing had gone from there.

"Hmmm, this chicken," Beca frowned a few bites in.

"What?" Both Aubrey and Chloe immediately asked.

"I don't know." She clicked her tongue, shaking her head sadly.

"Do you not like it?" Aubrey cried.

"Oh my god, Beca, don't tease her! She's going to explode! That's not nice! Bree, the food is amazing, ignore her, please."

Beca clicked her tongue again and Aubrey's eyes bugged. "No, I'm kidding. Bree, I promise. It's really fucking good. You two make a good team."

Aubrey scowled at her teasing and while she tried to pretend she believed that Beca was indeed kidding, Chloe also did notice the way that Aubrey watched her eat after that, her eyebrows knit with worry.

It was kind of adorable how much Aubrey cared if Beca liked their dinner. It clearly was everything to her. Maybe it hadn't been totally nice of her to insist on them doing it her way. Even if the chicken was amazing. Chloe smiled to herself around a bite, vowing to let Aubrey keep control of dinner prep next time.

Chloe's excitement grew as the meal came to a close. She had been waiting forever to hear Beca's music. She knew that locals took their music very seriously and so if Beca was hired she must be amazing. She still regretted that she let Stacie drag her to a party out on a far-off plantation for Halloween instead of going to the Krewe of Boo like she usually would.

She finished up her last few bites, all but swallowing them down whole and waited a bit impatiently for them to do the same before whisking their plates away.

"Hey!" Beca cried, her mouth still full while Aubrey just laughed.

"Come on!"

"Oh my god, Chloe! It's not that special. It's just music!"

" _Your_ music!" She cried, putting the dishes in the sink to wash later and refilling her glass.

"Alright fine."

* * *

Chloe liked being in this room. She liked being in this room just about as much as she liked being in Aubrey's den and for the same reason. This room screamed Beca. It was the room that smelled the most like her, it was the room with her personal little knickknacks, the room that Beca clearly spent the most time in. Also, despite the fact that Beca still swore that she disliked New Orleans Chloe couldn't help but to feel like all the NOLA memorabilia in the room was a strict vote in the opposite direction and it made her want to hug her.

Beca had dragged herself in, her glass now full and flopped down into her chair, looking like a teenager who had just been told to take out the trash in a snow storm.

"Beca, if you really don't want-" Aubrey started but Beca sighed.

"No, I'm good. I just don't do this very often, that's all."

"Why?" Chloe asked, leaning against the back of Beca's chair. She couldn't understand why Beca would be so shy if she was so talented, as Chloe was confident she was. Well, no, she understood that Beca was an artist and that artists were self-deprecating often enough but she wanted to shake her and tell her to stop. It was just them after all. And she _knew_ she was talented.

"I dunno, I guess it's just a little weird being like here, listen to this thing I made."

"But we want to." Aubrey grinned, joining Chloe behind her chair.

Beca just looked up at them and then nodded. "Okay, so then what do you want to hear?"

"What's your favorite?"

Of course, Chloe was right. Beca _was_ amazingly talented. She played them the first track with her hands balled in her lap and her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

Chloe had instantly been delighted by it. It was wonderful, so different and yet classic. She and Aubrey had started out smiling and then, as time passed, they had begun to dance, reminding Chloe so much of the first night they had kissed. It had made her want to kiss them all over again.

Beca, for her part, had seemed honestly surprised when they genuinely liked the music. She had watched them with her eyes going wide and then, apparently happy about this clearly unexpected development, had started to laugh. When they had asked for more Beca's hesitance was gone and she began to eagerly play them this track and that until they had gone far back into her repertoire.

It was well over an hour before Chloe and Aubrey, slightly sweaty had leaned against the wall to catch their breath, giving Beca a round of applause.

Beca beamed, her usual air of chill calm broken for a moment as her grin stretched so brightly that dimples popped on either side of her cheeks. It was adorable. "Really? You guys liked it that much?"

"We did, Beca."

"We promise!" Chloe added.

"We wouldn't lie to you."

Beca's mouth opened, her face suddenly overwhelmed. She blinked a few times and groaned like she wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Um,"

"Beca," Aubrey started, her hands falling to Beca's shoulders, "You're very talented."

"I uh," but then Beca seemed to run out of things to say to that and instead just blushed and nodded.

"Do you have any others you like?" Chloe asked, filling Aubrey's spot when she went to get herself another drink.

"Errrm,"

Chloe grinned, knowing that her chin resting against Beca's shoulder had distracted her. "What?"

"You're distracting me."

Chloe smirked, "Am I? Gosh, you distract easily, Bec. At least you were kissing me when I got distracted."

"Shut up?" Beca's fingers twitched over the computer keys, not like she wanted to type something out but like her words had affected her in some way. It was hard to ignore.

"So. Do you have any other favorites?" She asked, letting her nose bury behind Beca's ear.

"Uh, this one?" Beca clicked as Chloe inhaled, the scent of her sending warm currents through her chest.

"I don't think that one's yours, Bec." She hummed, her lips beginning to trail down her jaw. She loved the tension she could see radiating off of Beca, her back so straight that she was bowed a little in the opposite direction, her eyes wide and staring at the computer screen but unfocused.

"Right." Beca frowned, finally seeming to realize that 'No Sleep till Brooklyn' was playing. "That's, uh, that's not mine. I clicked – the thing."

Chloe chuckled. She loved how Beca could make her laugh. She bared her teeth a little, catching the tendon in Beca's neck.

Beca let out a sharp and altogether too high, "Aaaa," which she turned into, "aaaAubrey?"

That probably should have made Chloe stop her teasing, but it didn't sound like Beca was calling on Aubrey to save her as much as to see where she was.

"I'm here." Aubrey's voice came from right behind Chloe, so close that she was surprised that she couldn't feel her against her. She did, however, feel the gentle hand that Aubrey rested on her back in confirmation. "Do you have any other songs you want to play for us, Beca?"

Beca's shuffling hand clicked and 'Can't Buy Me Love' began to play.

"You would make a very bad DJ, Bec." Chloe hummed, finally moving away from her skin with a little regret.

"What? Oh."

Beca blinked, her face clearing a little. "I uh," her finger rubbed harshly at her eye as she forcefully clicked off The Beatles, "I'm thinking I need a break. From the music. Stuff."

"Alright." Aubrey said, her voice still carefully quiet.

"Let's sit down for a minute, yeah? Maybe with some wine?"

"I'm okay with that." Chloe nodded, remembering earlier in the day when all three of them had been on the couch. She straightened and felt Aubrey's eyes on her, felt the intensity of her stare. She turned her head and purposely met the stare dead on, feeling it fizzle and spark in her stomach. She held the look for one beat, two, three, letting it burn them, somehow scorching just as hot as Chloe's lips on Beca's skin had. Finally, she gave a small smile and touched Aubrey's arm, turning to go back into the kitchen for more wine.

When she came back to lean in the door frame a few moments later the weight that had nestled in her belly was still there, pulling and thrumming. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit it, wondering if she should try and push the feeling away. Yes, she was sure she should, right? That was not something – that couldn't happen tonight.

Beca had her back to both of them, back at the computer. She clicked around a few times. A second later music flooded the apartment.

"So wait," Aubrey frowned, "You don't have a dining room table but you have your entire apartment wired for music?"

Beca grinned and shot Aubrey a wink, "We all have our priorities, Posen."

They ended up back on the living room couch because there was nowhere else to sit but Chloe wasn't going to complain. The mood in the room was one that she liked, calm and relaxing with the smallest spike of tension between them. They hadn't bothered to click on the overhead light when they piled in. There was a street light outside of the window that seemed to be doing enough for all of them, lighting the room just enough for a meditative silence to thrive. Beca flopped down between them, pushing her way in so that both Aubrey and Chloe laughed and had to shift. It wasn't something that Beca usually did. She was usually more reserved than that and Chloe kind of loved it, she kind of loved these small rules of intimacy being broken. Beca gave a deep sigh and let her head rest on Aubrey's shoulder. Chloe watched, her heart both fluttering and hammering as Aubrey's face went from startled to quietly pleased.

"This is nice," Aubrey whispered into the dim light, her hand beginning to gently stroke Beca's hair.

Beca nodded, her toes wiggling under Chloe's thigh in a way that made her squirm at the tickle. "Um," Beca's eyes suddenly open as she frowned, "just, um, just checking in. Everyone okay with, um, this?"

Chloe knew what she meant and as steel blue and gray eyes turned toward her she chewed her lip. "Um." Carefully she reached over and took Beca's hand. She felt better when she had a hold of it, had a hold of a more solid part of them so she gave a tentative nod. This was so weird. And amazing. And weird.

Beca gave a yawn which made Chloe smile, "How long do you usually work when you're at home like this, Becs?"

Beca sighed, her eyes closing again. "I dunno. I think I started at like ten this morning?"

"Beca!" Aubrey chided in her gentle voice.

"I know, I know, it's just easy to kind of forget to pay attention to the time. It's one of the _few_ reasons why I like going into Mardi Gras world. At least when I'm there I kind of have to pay attention to things like that. On the plus side, I do more from home so," she gave a shrug.

The other two nodded, their heads slowly leaning back against the cushion.

This was nice. That was the thing. It was really nice. Without thinking her fingers began to trace Beca's palm, her eyes connecting with Aubrey over Beca's head. She liked the hopeful smile that Aubrey was giving her, she liked the way that Beca was melting into them. She thought that maybe...maybe she really did like this. She opened her mouth, a million questions bubbling in her stomach but instead she just shut it. Those could wait.

The silence grew sleepy, comfortable as they all cuddled in, enjoying this new atmosphere, this new...something. This was one of her favorite things. She loved simply sitting or lying with a lover, barely touching and yet _there_ together, listening to music and just being. She looked between them, taking in their quietly contented faces. They were her best friends and yet right now, she could feel herself growing closer to them, could feel them in a new way. Her head tilted to the side, listening to the smooth jazz number transition into something else entirely. "I know this song."

"Mmm," Beca nodded, her eyes barely opening, "Norah Jones did it in 2002."

Chloe nodded; it was one of her favorites. It was beautifully romantic. "Who is this?"

"Sarah Vaughan." Beca must have sensed her surprise because she gave another shrug, "I listen to all kinds of stuff."

Chloe smiled to herself, Beca was such an interesting mix of things. She had been able to hear that in her music today. One moment she was stiff and abrasive, the next she was cool and calm and the next warm and sweet; how was it that one woman could hold so much?

She felt Aubrey move, her free hand sliding along the couch to gently trace the shell of Chloe's ear.

Warm radiated through her body at Aubrey's soft touch. She smiled a little to herself, beginning to hum, "I love this song." There was something happening in that moment, something she thought she recognized, but had never experienced with this many people. There was a fluttering in her stomach, constantly spinning as though she were falling, but it was also comfortable. She felt as though she had just been wrapped in a blanket warm from the dryer and yet, something was on edge, balancing on a knife's point. It was invigorating. She wanted to scoot in closer. She closed her eyes again, feeling herself swooning into this newness.

She liked it.

Beside her Beca shifted. Chloe could tell, despite her closed eyes that she was standing and she wished she wouldn't. She didn't want their bubble to pop.

"Come here." She felt Beca's hand close around hers and when she looked up Beca was leaning over her, a soft smirk on her face. "Come here." She said again, giving Chloe a little pull.

She followed, her heart and eyes quivering a little in surprised delight when Beca didn't take her anywhere. Instead Beca spun her once and then pulled her in.

Chloe had danced with many people before, even danced in the quiet intimacy of a dimly lit living room. But this time, when Beca's hand gently came to rest on the small of her back, her other hand closing around Chloe's own, something different began to stir within her; something exciting and hot yet so gently warm that Chloe felt her head spin a little. She watched Beca's face as she gave her a slow smile, that soft and yet entirely confident and charismatic smile, beginning to move them with ease.

"You're quite the charmer, Beca Mitchell," Chloe said, a little breathless and Beca just chuckled, pulling her closer so their temples hovered over the other.

"' _When you're in my aaaarms'._ "

Chloe's heart gave a small leap. Oh my god! Beca was _singing_ to her. Oh god, she felt herself melt entirely. She loved it when Beca sang. It was something that she pretty much wouldn't do but the few times that Beca had, Chloe had been transported somewhere else, swept away.

Her eyes fluttered closed, her temple coming to rest against Beca's as the woman softly sang, " _'And I feel you so clooose to meee.'_ " Her voice, the perfect mix of sweet and rich, so full of her personality, washed over Chloe.

It was so much, so overwhelming. Chloe let herself give in, sinking into the voice, into the way that Beca moved her with expert precision, allowing herself to be overtaken.

" _'All my wiildest dreeams come truuue,'"_ her voice slowly whispered past Chloe's ear, making her shudder.

"Beca," she gasped, feeling the way that Beca gently, affectionately ran her nose along the side of Chloe's jaw, her hand leaving her own for a moment to reach out and touch Aubrey's before it returned. Chloe pulled slightly, just wanting her to be closer, her eyes prickling a bit as the beauty of the moment crashed down on her. Across her back she felt another hand touch, Aubrey reaching forward to simply be a part and unable to resist, her hand moved from Beca's neck, resting on Aubrey's until their dancing slowly spun her away again. She felt a ghost of a laugh brush her skin as Beca's nose moved and her head tilted, giving Beca space, giving her room to look to the couch, feeling Beca's eyes on Aubrey's as she gently sang, " _'I neeed no soft liights - to enchant me - if youu would only grant me - the riiight - to hold you ever so tiiight.'_ "

chloe waited for the kiss as she felt Beca's lips move against her skin, forming the words, but it didn't come. Instead Beca began to hum, her nose trailing back up as she held her a little closer.

She couldn't think, and yet, when she felt a second pair of hands slide up her arm and over her back she sighed, her head falling back to Aubrey's shoulder, thankful she was there.

"You both," Chloe felt her lips part, entranced by the roughness of Aubrey's voice, of the emotion she could feel in it, "you both are _so_ beautiful."

Chloe hummed, turning between them so she could take Aubrey into her arms, hugging her tightly for a moment before, this time, she began to move them. She felt Beca behind her, hovering closely as Chloe slid one hand to the nape of Aubrey's neck, the other to her back, keeping her close. The song changed, some gentle jazz trumpet number so Chloe continued to rock them, dancing slowly.

As she moved, she willed everything she was feeling, the _so much_ that she was feeling to flow into Aubrey. She gave a shiver so Chloe held her tighter, moving her gently in a smooth circle. She could smell her skin as she pressed her cheek into Aubrey's, could feel the way Aubrey sighed as Chloe's fingers softly ran up her neck and slid into her hair.

This was what dancing should be like. It should feel like _this much_. This was what all things should be like.

She heard Aubrey sigh her name as her face dipped to rest against her shoulder. And then she could feel Beca's hands again, sliding around her waist, holding her tightly, a hand joining her own on the back of Aubrey's neck.

Were they dancing? She couldn't even tell anymore, she could feel Beca resting against her and Aubrey's face buried in her neck.

" _Baby_ , are you crying?" She quietly asked as she felt Aubrey's body shudder a second time.

Aubrey didn't answer right away, instead she just buried herself closer into them. "I just-"

Gently she pulled Aubrey from her hiding spot, watching as she searched for words, seeing the panic that was rising as she couldn't find them.

"Shhh," she cooed.

She understood. There were no words for this feeling, no words for whatever was happening between the three of them. So instead she just kissed her, her thumbs gently brushing the tear tracks away.

Aubrey quieted, her hand against Chloe's cheek, her other wrapped around Beca's hand on her neck, "I've never felt -"

"No," Chloe shook her head firmly, sure of that. No, she had never felt anything like this, like what she was feeling in this exact moment.

"Neither have I," Beca whispered, her nose once again burying in Chloe's neck. "I-" but it seemed that Beca had no words either.

It was okay. Chloe didn't need them. What she did need was something different. She had never felt so close, so connected to anyone before. Chloe _loved_ human connection. That was what this life was about in her opinion, one being connecting with another whether simply over a shared cup of coffee or in gentle passionate lovemaking. She wanted more. She wanted to feel them. She wanted to know them, she wanted to claim them, to make them hers.

"Can I -" but how did you say that? How did you tell them that every inch of her being was begging for theirs, begging to be a part of them? She shook her head a little, "I want-"

Beca seemed to understand though. Gently she pushed Chloe's hair aside and placed a small kiss against the curve of her neck and shoulder.

It was exactly what she wanted and so she leaned forward, pulling Aubrey in.

She had never felt Aubrey so open, so willing as she was when Chloe gently parted her lips. She could feel Aubrey shaking and it was intoxicating. She gave a little push, mesmerized by the small patterns Beca's nose was painting against her neck. She pushed a little more and Aubrey was resting against the wall behind them, her hands moving to Chloe's waist, where they balled into fists, and pulled her hips forward.

She felt more than heard Beca give a small and unmistakable groan in response to Aubrey's zeal, her lips parting and her teeth grazing Chloe's skin.

Her breath caught, her eyes closing as Aubrey took advantage of her inattention to swoop in and place a kiss under her jaw.

"Oh god," she gasped, her hands going to each of them, pulling them in tighter against her, needing, wanting so much. She wasn't sure it was possible to be as close as she wanted to be. She listened as Beca and Aubrey's lips met over her shoulder, whimpered as, though they were kissing, a small zip was heard as Beca began to move the zipper of Chloe's dress. "Guys."

And then Aubrey's feverish lips were on her jaw, her throat, her collarbone, pulling her dress out of the way as Beca's drifted down her back, following as she torturously slowly followed the zipper.

The softness between them was melting away, replaced by disorientation, by needy want. She poured herself into Aubrey's mouth, her hands reaching back to ball in Beca's shirt, holding her against her as the feeling in her body began to turn from warm, gentle exploration to something hot and sharp that needed to be satiated.

This was…

This was…

She tried to come up with a word for it but she didn't think she could, not when both of their lips were on her.

Aubrey gave a small growl, her teeth catching Chloe's bottom lip. She felt a yank, felt the prick of Aubrey's nails against the back of her neck as she began to pull and push her around. Chloe followed, not really caring where they were going. Still, she gave a yelp that was half laughter as she suddenly toppled backward, landing in a heap on top of Beca on - _oh, they were on Beca's bed!_ That was perfect. That was exactly where she wanted to be. She turned, catching Beca's lips as Aubrey immediately took over Beca's task, kissing her way down Chloe's spine, her teeth grazing, her mouth sucking in a way that sent chills all over her body and made her groan. Beca seemed to like that; she seemed to like the way that Aubrey's lips made her breath catch.

The zipper stopped at the end of its line and Chloe whimpered, her hands balling in Beca's shirt as Aubrey firmly slid her hands through the gap at the back of her dress and cupped Chloe's clothed breasts.

She hadn't been expecting that and her reaction was strong. She cried out, her back arching as she pressed herself into her hands more firmly, Beca's palms running up her thighs, under her dress, and to her waist.

From behind her, right in her ear, she heard a sound from Aubrey, a sound she never expected to hear; a soft, high cry as she gently squeezed, as though the sensation of having Chloe in her hands was too much for her.

And Chloe was lost. Her own hands frantically shoved Beca's shirt over her head as she ground down, pressing herself once into Beca. She fell back into Aubrey as she keened for a better angle, for something that would bring her fully into contact with Beca, that would bring Beca into better contact with her.

Her body was thrumming, she had never felt anything like this, she had never felt such a fire inside of herself before. She needed to quench it. She needed them to quench it.

Under her Beca swore, her fingers clawing around her hips, pressing Chloe harder into her pelvis, her hips pushing up and into her, and making her cry out as Aubrey's mouth connected to the curve of her shoulder. " _Shit!_ " She gasped, wanting more as Aubrey gave a grunt, her fingers pushing her bra away and greedily cupping her. Beca sat up, her lips closing on the same shoulder as Aubrey's, front and back and it was almost too much. She held them to her as best she could, not wanting to lose contact with them. She could hear their twin breaths, could hear them moan as Beca's free hand caught Aubrey by the hair, pulling her mouth back to hers while her other slid from Chloe's waist. Beca firmly palmed her over the satin of her panties in the same moment that Aubrey's fingers gently closed on her nipples and Chloe convulsed, "Shit! Oh god!"

Beca's thumb pressed and Chloe bucked into her, groaning as the other two alternated between roughly kissing and biting her shoulder. She could feel Beca nodding, she could feel Beca wanting more but she knew that her goddamned pantyhose and underwear were in the way, that they were like a cage around her body, covering her all the way to the waist. She was going to have to move, but she didn't think she could stand the loss of their bodies against her.

"Wait."

"What?" Chloe cried when Aubrey's hands suddenly fell to her stomach, her lips disconnecting from Chloe's neck as she spoke. "What? No!"

"Wait," Aubrey said again, her hand going to Beca's, gently stilling her.

"Oh fuck!" Chloe gasped, her whole body going stiff for a moment. The sensation of both of their hands right where she wanted them was amazing, perfect even. She didn't mean to but her hips bucked, making both of them moan.

Aubrey's hand flattened over Beca's and while she whimpered for them to 'wait' again, her fingers laced through Beca's, both hands moving to press into her.

"Guys," Chloe gasped, panting and doing her very best to sit still, "Please." She didn't want them to stop, she didn't want them to move away from her. She didn't want distance between them, whether physical or mental. She wanted the sex too, she wanted it badly but she also just wanted them closer in literally every way and she wanted it now. Her hands moved on Beca's back, kneading and pawing.

"Wait." This time Aubrey's voice was firmer as she gently pushed Beca's hand away and then retracted her own. "Please wait."

"Are you kidding me? What's wrong?" Beca mumbled, flopping back down on the bed with her hands over her eyes, giving Chloe a clear view of her stomach and ribs. She wanted to lean down and put her mouth on her.

"I-" Chloe turned enough to see Aubrey's cheeks turning pink as she spoke, "we need to talk before this happens."

"What?" Chloe cried, "Bree!"

"I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page."

Chloe gasped, gulping a lungful of air, "Pretty sure we're all _on the same page_ , Bree."

"There are things to be discussed, Chloe!"

Chloe opened her mouth to argue again but Beca made a loud and disruptive 'Aaaaah!' so she snapped her mouth closed.

"I just want to make sure," Aubrey said, her voice softer as she leaned forward and kissed the spot that was sore from Aubrey's lips, "that we all really know what we're getting into. Okay?"

Chloe hummed as Aubrey leaned around her and kissed her with a sweetness that turned her into melted butter.

She didn't want to listen. She didn't want to talk. Her body was on fire, her pulse beating angrily and she could feel herself slick with want but she nodded. This was Aubrey and if that was what she needed then she would give it to her. It was probably smarter anyway. "Okay." She took a deep breath and rolled over, landing on the bed with a groan.

Aubrey chuckled, her eyes affectionate as she watched Chloe's breathing slow. It took her a moment before she realized she was still poised over Beca, the person between them no longer in the way. Chloe watched the realization dawn, watched as Aubrey's eyes roamed, as she leaned down and kissed Beca, her fingers walking up Beca's ribs like a xylophone, cupping her breasts in a way that made Beca cry out.

Chloe groaned into the pillow, her fingers itching to touch. "We should go then," she announced, watching them as they kissed.

"What?" Beca cried again, her voice ringing with indignation but Chloe was nodding, already fixing her bra.

She didn't think she could watch them do that and not continue. She knew herself and she literally couldn't stay, not right now. "Yup. We had better go." Aubrey was nodding, her lips still firmly connected to Beca's neck. Beca gasped, her eyes rolling back. "Now. We had better go now."

Aubrey just nodded, her thumb grazing over the cup of Beca's bra.

Chloe, her nerves a bundle of tightly coiled and electric charges, picked up Beca's pillow and softly hit her with it.

Aubrey laughed as she stood, and it was the most open, carefree laugh that Chloe had ever heard from her.

It didn't help.

Beca, still missing a shirt, rolled over and groaned into a pillow, "Fine!" Her yell came out muffled, "God, you two better not have sex without me."

Chloe grinned, biting her lip and loving this moment, "Wouldn't dream of it." She pushed herself up and then stopped. Without thought about the fact that she was in Beca's private space, she picked up the book that had been under Beca's pillow. "Beca!"

Beca jumped, uncovering her face and crying, "Yeah! Yeah, I'm here!"

Chloe held up the book, her mouth hanging open, "You're reading Anne of Green Gables?"

Beca launched herself so fast that Chloe didn't have time to duck before she was vaulted backward, Beca snatching at the book.

With a squeal and a shout Chloe rolled onto her back, holding it away.

"You're reading Anne of Green Gables! Oh my god! Bec!" She was delighted. She couldn't believe it.

"Giveit!"

"When did you start reading-"

But them Beca was on top of her, thrusting her tongue into her mouth with such force that it wiped everything else clean from her mind.

"Mmmfuck," she whimpered as Beca dipped again and again.

"YES!"

Apparently, it had been a diversion and now Beca jumped away to the opposite side of the bed, the book clutched to her chest and looking like she might hurt anyone who came to near.

Chloe's head just hit the bed, trying to calm her breathing.

"Beca, when did you," but Aubrey stopped when Beca, chagrin on her face, took the book and put it on a stack of books.

"Oh my god, is that all of them?"

"No." Beca said too fast and Chloe cackled.

* * *

Chloe woke the next morning with the realization that everything, for her anyway, had changed. The night before had been like a scene from a movie or an opera. It had been magic. It had been beautiful. It had been her favorite of all nights...even if it had been cut short.

Things had changed.

She was in. She was so in.

She wanted them. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, she wanted it all. Both of them. All of them. She wanted to see where this thing was going to go. Where they would end up. And she was _going_ to have it.

She smiled up at her ceiling, and then, because she couldn't keep it in, she let out a happy little keen, throwing the blankets over her head and giving a little wiggle.

"Aaaah!" She froze when the movement hurt, "Oh my god!" She couldn't even be upset when she looked over to her shoulder and realized she had not one but two deep purple bruises, one on either side of her shoulder.

Oh my god, that was...that was _so_ hot! Her tongue slipped out to moisten her lips as she thought of the two very different mouths that had made those marks, of how it had felt to have Aubrey's hands on her breasts and Beca's hips below her.

Absolutely _gleeful_ , she flipped over and grabbed her phone.

Nestled between her pillows she snapped a picture and sent it to the group chat, "Look what you two did to me."

It was a good photo, she had to admit, showing a little bit of her neck and a long expanse of her side. Her excitement built as she waited for a reply, or in Aubrey's case, waited for a telltale lack of reply.

Sure enough, it was Beca who answered first, making Chloe laugh out loud and toss over to read her response.

"Oh my god, are you NAKED?"

And then on the foot of that text, "DID YOU JUST SEND US A PICTURE OF YOU NAKED, CHLOE?"

Chloe laughed, holding the phone to her chest for a second in glee. She could feel the devil pass through her and, barely containing herself, she flipped back over taking a photo that included half of her face, the shoulder that had been bruised by their mouths and the top swell of one breast, cutting off just before her nipple. "Yup," she sent back including the emoji of the devil and of the little face with its tongue sticking out, the one that always reminded her a little bit of a very specific sex act.

Beca's response came a moment later and sent her into a fit of giggles. All the text held was a GIF of a cartoon wolf howling, his fist beating the table as his feet stomped.

"You know that Aubrey is probably imploding right now, right? Like, she's probably sitting at her desk right now with steam coming out of her ears." Came right after the first.

Chloe laughed but before she could respond another text came through.

"I am not! You forget, Beca Mitchell, one of those hickeys on her shoulder is MINE."

Chloe groaned into her pillow. She had fallen asleep the night before, sans pajamas for a _very_ specific reason and now, seeing their banter, imagining Aubrey's possessive tone, she could feel that want rising in her again.

"You look very...very sexy, Chloe."

Chloe bit her lip, loving this version of Aubrey that was slowly opening up to them, "God, come be sexy with me. Please!"

"You're in a mood this morning!" Aubrey responded.

"That's literally all your fault! Both of you!"

"I'm about to head into work, Chlo." Beca sent back, a frowny face at the end.

Chloe clicked another photo, this time over her back. She cropped the shot so it ended just before she revealed a little too much and sent it out.

"That's it," Beca responded almost immediately, "I'm calling in sick."

"Aren't you your own boss?" She asked.

"Whatever."

"Don't you dare, Beca!" Aubrey sent back fast. "I am already at work and therefore cannot just leave. I'm about to walk into a meeting."

Chloe sent a line of unhappy faces.

"But," Aubrey sent on the tail of her last, "I will enjoy those photos later though, Chloe. When I am home by myself."

Chloe gasped, her jaw dropping open as she texted back as fast as her fingers would go, "AUBREY!" They had done it. They had finally sent Aubrey something sexy and she had responded back with something even sexier! They had done it! And that thought, oh god, the thought of Aubrey at home with the photos that she had sent her. Chloe moaned, her fingers flexing as she kept them glued to her phone.

"Okay, now I'm jealous." Beca shot back.

"Then send me a sexy photo, Beca."

"OMG, who ARE you right now, Bree?!"

Chloe waited, her breath catching as she received a picture message from Beca...and then she was laughing into her pillow until tears dripped from her face. The picture was of Beca, her face comically blank and slack with the shoulder of her shirt pulled down so her bra strap was visible.

"Oooh baby," she texted back, "light my fire!"

"Shut up."

"I'm NAKED in BED and THAT is what you send me, Beca?! What am I going to do with that?"

"Hey Chlo, you wanna know something?"

"What, Beca?"

"Your accent really DOES pop out when you're horny." And right on the tail of that, "Learned that last night. Okay, I'm at work, TTYL!"

Chloe gasped, yelling at her phone and laughing.

She had the day off so Chloe spent her time in bed, reading a book and wishfully imagining what she could be doing if her girls were there with her.

She didn't know what she had been hesitant about now that the night before had passed. It seemed silly.

The problem was last night had ripped the seal off of something within her. She knew that Aubrey was right, they had to talk but she just wanted them to _come over already!_ She didn't think she could stand it. She had been wanting them individually for seven months and it had been three since the first time she kissed them. Last night had sealed the deal. She was ready. She wanted to know how it would feel to have them slide into bed with her, she wanted to know how their bodies would tangle together. She wanted to learn their sounds, their spots, their touch.

God, she hated that they were at work.

Then again, if they did come over then she knew that she would answer the door naked and see how they responded to that.

Slowly, as the day wore on and her girls were too busy to respond to her messages, she began to think.

Watching Beca and Aubrey kiss was interesting. They kissed so differently than they kissed her.

She rose, enjoying the luxury of not needing to dress as her space heaters worked overtime. She finally made herself something to eat and a strong cup of coffee.

Munching on a piece of toast she frowned as something occurred to her.

Did Beca and Aubrey have a _reason_ that they kissed differently?

She paused mid-bite, her eyebrows pulling together.

No, that was silly, right?

Beca had made that comment the night before. She had said something about them not sleeping together without her.

Was it bad that they kissed differently than she kissed them? Did it mean something?

She wasn't the one out of the loop already, was she?

Oh my god, she dropped her toast, what if they were totally already having sex?

She didn't like that thought.

She didn't like it so much that she buried herself back into her bed, not coming out again until she had napped the silly idea off.

When she woke she had a text from Aubrey inviting them over.

"Yes please!" She answered and jumped out of bed to shower.

Her mind swam over the question a little more as she showered but on this side of the nap she knew it was silly.

She did, however, have some questions. The way it had gone the night before...was that how it would be? Were they all dating now? What did that even mean for three people? What did that mean for the future?

Whatever. She didn't care. After the previous night she wasn't going to need convincing.

She decided to take the streetcar again, mostly because sitting around and waiting wasn't something she wanted to do. She plopped her headphones in and hummed as they passed through the city, Chloe happily watching out of the window as she went.

She couldn't wait to see them.

Which was silly because it had been like fifteen hours at the most and yet, she just couldn't wait!

She turned on to Aubrey's street and grinned as she saw Beca's Fusion pulling up in front of the house. Excited, she sped up, waving but Beca didn't seem to see her.

She all but flew up the stairs, let herself into Aubrey's house and stopped, surprised.

She smiled a little. Aubrey and Beca were just inside the door, kissing passionately. It was sweet. Beca had just gotten there so they were saying hello.

Right?

Then her smile fell a little as her stomach began to turn sour.

She was supposed to be okay with this.

She wanted to be okay with this. She had _liked_ it the night before. She had liked the signs of affection between them and she had certainly liked them kissing as they touched her...as well as when Aubrey had spread her long frame across Beca to get in a good kiss before Chloe had said they needed to leave. That had...well, she had enjoyed it. And the way that Aubrey had been stroking Beca's hair while they were on the couch had melted her.

And yet, as it took Aubrey and Beca a second to notice the door had opened, Chloe's stomach reeled and that silly little question popped into her head.

What if Beca and Aubrey were already having sex? What if there was something that she didn't know...that they hadn't told her?

She had been kind of assuming that yes, she had been silly. Of course there was nothing happening that Chloe didn't know about.

Her frown grew as her stomach began to boil.

"Guys!"

She had kind of shouted and she felt bad about that but she just, she had to get them to _stop_. They had to _stop!_

They both jumped and, to her annoyance, each gave her a small and openly sheepish grin. She wasn't smiling though. She was so confused. She could feel that want, the same desire that had been pulling on her the night before. She could feel that pooling desire back with a vengeance, gripping her in a way that was almost startling. And yet, she was so mad.

She wasn't even sure why she was mad.

But she was furious.

She wanted to stomp and to shout except she also wanted to steal them away.

Beca's face was the first to fall, her eyebrows pulling together as Chloe just stared, her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes blown wide.

"Chloe? You okay?"

Ugh, what was wrong with her? She was a well-educated woman who was perfectly capable of expressing herself. She had decided what she wanted and yet here she was gawking.

"Chloe, what's wrong?"

She shook her head but when Beca leaned forward and gave her a little shoulder bump Chloe didn't smile.

"Chloe?" Aubrey's hand touched her arm.

"You two seem like you're having fun."

They both frowned, surprised and a little embarrassed.

"Chloe, what-"

"I can barely get through the door. So do you guys want to maybe move a little or should I head back home?"

"Chloe, what's going on?"

"Nothing!" She rolled her eyes, snapping a little more than she meant to at Aubrey. "I just can't get in. You know what? Never-" she had turned, ready to walk away when Beca grabbed her arm.

She shot her a glare and immediately felt terrible. Beca's eyebrows were so high they were nearly in her hairline.

"Um, whoa, dude," Beca said, giving a dry laugh. "Um, hi? We missed you after last night?"

Chloe scowled.

"Are you upset because we were kissing, Chloe?"

She looked up at Aubrey, really wanting to say no but she just couldn't. "I just don't want to be left out of anything."

"Dude, like _what?_ " Beca asked, her voice just as high as her eyebrows.

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do. Come on, Chlo, what's wrong?"

"Are you two already sleeping together?"

She watched them closely, waiting for any sign that perhaps they weren't telling the truth.

"Chloe." Aubrey touched her arm, "No."

"I just," she shifted, "if I'm going to be the one that's left out then I would rather you just tell me now."

"Dude," Beca's head was shaking fast, "I promise. Scouts honor or something."

"Come here."

She melted into Aubrey's hug, pleased when Beca began to rub her back. Maybe she was being silly. So they kissed differently. Did that mean that how she had been kissed was in some way subpar?

No.

Absolutely not.

Her body gave a long tight pull as she remembered exactly how she had been kissed.

She pulled back, running her hands through her wavy hair, "I don't know, maybe? I'm just a little on edge."

She was.

She really was on edge.

"All day I wanted you guys in bed with me. I hadn't been joking about that."

Beca nodded while Aubrey just looked at her, thoughtfully.

"Perhaps we should have that talk."

Chloe found she was a little nervous as they settled into the den, not sitting close as they had before but instead Beca took one side of the couch and Chloe took the other while Aubrey pulled up the overstuffed armchair. She had a stack of papers with her, making Chloe wonder if she had been studying this like it was a test.

Aubrey's shoulders were back, her spine straight as she carefully ran her hands over the papers. Seeing her click into official mode made Chloe sit up a little straighter. "Last night," Aubrey began, her eyes sternly flicking between them. Beca squirmed a little under her gaze but said nothing. "I wanted things to go further than it did."

She waited then as if Beca and Chloe were supposed to give her the answer to a math problem. Finally Chloe gave a nod, "Me too."

Aubrey's eyes turned to Beca and she rolled her eyes, "Yes, Aubrey, me too. I feel like that kind of goes without saying."

"So then we're all in agreement that,"

"Aubrey!" Chloe cried, unable to sit through this.

"Alright, Chloe, slow your roll a little bit. I just want to be sure."

"But like," Beca twitched again, "last night was so good but um, are we wanting to do...that? Like, all together like that? Like, a threesome?"

Aubrey scowled, her face going pinched. "Don't call it a threesome, Beca, that makes it sound dirty and that wouldn't be what it is."

Chloe flinched at Aubrey's snap but Beca, always so much better at that, just nodded, "I mean, you did say being able to - you know - individually as well as together, I guess."

Chloe looked between them, her irritation instantly high again, "What do you mean? You guys talked about this already?"

"Don't look at us like that, Chloe, this is why we're here talking - first." Aubrey went through and explained about the short talk she and Beca had that day before the tour and about all of the research she had done. Chloe couldn't help but to let her affection for Aubrey soar as Aubrey showed her articles she had printed out, statistics and real life interviews.

"Aubrey." Chloe shook her head, completely exasperated and when she couldn't think of exactly how to share her affection for her Chloe just reached up and kissed her...which made Aubrey blush.

"Have any of you guys ever-" Beca started after a moment of silence.

"With three people?" Chloe asked but didn't really need the answer, "No. I almost did once but my boyfriend of the time called it off because the other girl's boyfriend wanted to watch."

"I think it would be sexy."

Chloe's jaw dropped, "Bree! Oh my god!"

Aubrey turned to her, the look on her face already telling her that she was going to argue but she didn't give her time. Both she and Beca jumped on her in the chair, kissing her face and tickling her sides.

"Oh my god!" Chloe cried, ecstatic, "I love this new you! I can't get enough! Give me more!" Step by step as they got closer to something, she didn't know, physical or perhaps more substantial it seemed that Aubrey also grew more comfortable. She was still so used to that other version of Aubrey, the one that shrank back from her whenever she was too forward, the one that had always sat as far from her on the couch as possible.

Aubrey laughed, her face radiant as Beca perched on the arm of the chair and Chloe threw herself right into Aubrey's lap.

"I don't want to do it individually," Aubrey said, her voice certain.

Chloe bit her lip. Cuddling tightly in Aubrey's lap she leaned forward and kissed her throat.

"Mmm," Aubrey hummed, her hand tangling in Chloe's hair.

They had all had that talk, right? There was no harm in a little kissing now, right?

She felt Beca move closer as well, felt her chin brush her own as Beca's lips connected with the other side of Aubrey's neck.

"Research." Aubrey sighed, her body twitching as Chloe's hands hovered over her, wanting badly to touch.

"Bree," Cloe shook her head, "let the uptightness go for a minute, please. You might not have noticed but I'm kissing you."

Aubrey opened her mouth to speak but Beca cut her off with a kiss.

"Research. Research will help us," she said when her mouth was free again.

Chloe sat back, a little annoyed.

"None of us have done this before. Research will help."

She rolled her eyes, standing and plopping back down on the couch, "Alright, what did you find?"

"Positioning." Aubrey said slowly, "Styles. Tips."

"Oh my god, Bree!" Beca groaned.

Aubrey scowled, plopping the papers down on the table with a slap, "Knowing these things could save it from being uncomfortable or awkward."

"Do you really think it will be?"

"I don't know, Beca, I've never done it before." Aubrey's eyes closed, calming herself, "I just want it to be romantic."

That melted Chloe from the inside out.

She scrambled until she was back in Aubrey's lap, her hands tightly on either side of Aubrey's face as she kissed her.

"You're right," Beca said after a minute. "It needs to be."

Chloe nodded.

"So then, come out with me. On a date. Come on a date with me."


	16. Chapter 16

_**Beca**_

* * *

Beca wasn't sure that she had been this nervous about picking a date spot since she was in high school or maybe college. She just, ugh, she wanted to find somewhere or something that _both_ Chloe and Aubrey would find romantic - or at least would both like. It was awesome how different they both were from one another; she liked it because it made things interesting but now it was making her a little nervous.

Movie and a walk through the park?

Feeding animals at a petting zoo?

Going to an art museum and then out for cocktails?

Taking a secluded romantic tour through a swamp?

A private picnic for three?

The problem was that some of these things made sense for Aubrey and some made sense for Chloe but none sounded like both of the women; not if it was romance she was going for.

She had been researching like crazy, her mind scattered and confused by the thought that whatever she was planning, it would be the thing that would set the mood for them when...she flushed hot and decided not to finish that thought.

Whatever, she couldn't deny that though trying to come up with exactly what she should do was a little stressful, she also really liked that she was doing it - and that she was doing it for Chloe and Aubrey.

She still wasn't entirely sure how she had found herself in this weird situation but she was jumping in and she loved it. She loved watching them interact, she loved watching them kiss, she loved - once again her body flashed hot, remembering her viewpoint from _that_ night. She had been able to see everything. She had been able to see the way that Chloe's mouth had fallen open when Aubrey's lips connected with her neck. She had been able to see the way that touching Chloe like that had transported Aubrey, making her eyes roll into her head and moan as though she could feel those touches on her own breasts.

She hadn't told them this yet because she wasn't sure they were on the same page but she...she _really_ liked watching them. It was - hot wasn't the right word - neither was sexy - was there something stronger than hot or sexy? It was mind numbing but mind numbing in a way that she enjoyed, not walk into walls and drool kind of mind numbing - mostly.

Yeah, she was pretty sure that she was alone in that but that was alright. She would take it.

"Hey, little miss."

With a guilty squawk, Beca slammed her laptop shut, hiding the page titled, "27 Actually Great New Orleans Dating Spots".

Amy stopped just inside her door, her eyebrows high.

"'What?" Beca guiltily snapped. She leaned back in her chair, casually tapping her pen on the arm. She didn't think she was fooling anyone at all but Amy must have decided that she didn't want to push it because she plopped down in the chair beside her, still watching Beca as though she might attack or do something else alarming. "What?"

"Sooo…" Amy frowned, looking around the room for a sign of whatever had triggered Beca's current twitchy state. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." Beca gave a casual shrug. "Just uh, you know, working and, um, making music and - stuff."

She hadn't exactly told Amy about her dating life yet. Actually, she hadn't told anyone; not that she really had that many she could tell. She wasn't sure why. She didn't really think that Amy would take issue with her love life, whatever or however many it included. It was more that she wasn't sure how _she_ would have responded if someone told her that they were dating two women at once. Her initial reaction, she was sure would have been something like ' _well that's selfish of you_ ' and that was always enough to shut her down.

"Uh-huh," Amy's eyes narrowed, "So. How are the dynamic duo?"

Beca studied her face. Did Amy know or was that totally a coincidence? "Um?"

"Earth to Beca? Come in Beca?"

"What?"

"How are Aubrey and Chloe? You're acting like that's a weird question to ask."

"No! Uh, they're good...I think."

"You think?"

She chewed the inside of her cheek, turning back to her computer. She opened it out of nervous habit before realizing halfway through that she couldn't exactly open it right now and so closed it again. "They uh, they're good."

"You look like you stole the dingo's baby, what's up, little cup?"

Beca glared. The thing was, she kind of wanted some advice. "Um," she shifted back and forth, her finger drumming on her desk, "so like, what was your best date? Like, your best date ever?"

Amy clearly had not been expecting this. "Do you have a date?"

"What? No!" Why was she lying? There was literally no reason to ask except because she had a date. "I just," she rolled her eyes, fixing them forward and ignoring Amy's smugly amused leer. "Okay, fine, whatever. Just tell me."

She probably should have assumed that Amy's date idea wouldn't be helpful. She just stared at her as Amy recounted a tale of her ex-boyfriend getting into a fight with a Cassowary after it stole her sandwich while on a sex-nic.

She wasn't sure why she had even asked.

"'Kay," Beca said slowly when Amy was done, "that literally doesn't help me at all."

"Who are you dating?"

"No one." She said it at a lightning speed.

"Looking for a little alone time with yourself, huh? You know, Becs, I heard that you are a sure thing when yourself is the one doing the wining and dining."

"Is that what I should do? Dinner? Like, is that really the most romantic thing I could do?"

"I don't know. Tell me who you're dating."

"Uh,"

It didn't work out well for her.

Once she had finally squealed Aubrey and Chloe's names Amy had _finally_ released her from the headlock.

"Riiiight. So, Romeo, does one know about the other? And vise versa."

"Yeah, it's not - I'm not - I'm sort of," she groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, "sort of dating them both - like - together - like - the three of us. Oh my god, it sounds crazy when I say it out loud." Not that she had before.

Amy gave an impressed nod. "That's adventurous. So," she pulled over and opened Beca's computer, giving her a 'really' look when she saw the site Beca had been on. Beca just looked away, studying her pen. Amy clicked around a few times and pushed it back her way, "Check this place out. This guy took me there after some nappy modeling I did for him." Beca scowled at the image. "This place was _really_ fancy."

She clicked through the site, studying the pictures of The Delachaise. She liked it. Even in the photos it was dark and intimate. "Dude, this is like perfect!"

"Yeah," Amy nodded. "He was really into the romance." But she said it as though that had been her sole reason for no longer seeing him.

Beca debated asking about the diaper modeling, but changed her mind. She didn't want to know.

The next few nights Beca spent pretty much forever in front of her closet.

She had been checking it constantly as though an outfit she valued would appear, which, of course it hadn't. Finally she had stumbled into Canal Place, too embarrassed to ask Chloe or Aubrey or even Amy for help. While she had wanted to go into Saks or maybe Michael Kors, she had instead settled for a less intimidating store and had found the little black dress that was now hanging in her closet.

She liked it when she bought it but now that it was actually time for the date she kept staring at it like maybe it was just totally wrong.

She didn't have a lot of choices though. So with one last nervous look at the dress, she got into the shower.

She didn't do a lot of dresses in life. She didn't do a lot of any of this, she mused as she dried her hair, trying to find any natural wave it might have to it. It wasn't that she didn't like getting dressed up as much as she rarely did dates like this. She was kind of all about the casual date.

But they would like it? Right?

God, she hoped so.

The Delachase, as it happened, was a five-minute drive from Aubrey's apartment so Beca had decided that she would pick up Chloe and they would meet Aubrey at the restaurant. She was nervous as she pulled up to double park for a moment and rang the downstairs buzzer. She fluffed her hair again, worried about everything far more than she should. What if the dress wasn't right? What if she had bad breath? She had brushed her teeth, right? For a moment she couldn't remember and that sent a jolt of jittery panic through her, making her breathe into her hand in hopes of catching its scent. That only made her panic more as she wondered in a internal yell, 'does that trick work for anyone? She couldn't smell her breath, but she was sure she had brushed – right? That was dumb, of course she had brushed her teeth. What was _wrong_ with her?

Then she heard Chloe's front door close and a second later she saw her descending, heels first then the smooth expanse of her legs, her dress, a beautiful off the shoulder number with a flared skirt, and finally the thing that Beca wanted to see the most: her face. She wanted to gauge the whether there, see if she was nervous, see if she was excited.

What an entrance, Beca dumbly thought as she watched Chloe slowly break into a grin, wider and wider as she grew more pleased with whatever she was seeing in Beca's expression. Her large eyes twinkled and Chloe bit the side of her lip.

She looked beautiful.

She had managed to tame her usually unruly hair, turning it into soft waves down her back and the dress that she was wearing was a deep royal blue that made her eyes pop.

Holy shit.

It wasn't even fair.

Real people weren't supposed to look that amazing, right? God, and Aubrey was going to look just as beautiful. She always did. Even that morning after she had stayed up most of the night researching. She had been freaky beautiful.

She frowned a little, suddenly aware of her knobbly knees under the hem of her dress and the fact that she had a small scab on one of her ankles from where the razor had bitten her. She was pretty sure that Chloe wouldn't notice or care about either of those things but in the face of her, you know, gorgeousness, she was a little twitchy.

She watched her, not thinking that maybe she should blink or look away or stop being weird, not until Chloe was standing in front of her, beaming.

"Hi."

Beca jumped, realizing her eyes were burning as she blinked, "Hey."

"You look amazing, Bec."

Beca looked down at herself, wondering if she could really be compared. "Thanks. Um, you too, Chlo." That had been a lame way to say that but she hoped the fact that she was still staring at her like this would be enough to make her point.

It seemed like it did because after a moment Chloe gave a quiet laugh and, leaning forward, gave her a small kiss. The blare of a horn made them jump as a taxi couldn't quite get around Beca's car.

"Maybe we should go. Our girl is waiting for us."

Beca paused at that, struck a little dumb and wishing like crazy that Aubrey could have heard that. "Right. Yeah. Um. Come on."

The car ride over wasn't uncomfortable exactly as much as it was loaded. They didn't talk a lot but instead Chloe played with Beca's hand as she drove in silence.

"What?" Beca finally nervously asked after the third time of catching Chloe looking at her.

Chloe shook her head, "You're beautiful."

Beca cleared her throat, trying to keep the blush back but failed pretty badly.

When they pulled up they exchanged a slightly worried look, not seeing Aubrey waiting. "She's probably inside, right?"

Chloe's lips twisted, her face thoughtful. For just a moment Beca worried, Aubrey wouldn't stand them up, right?

"Yeah, of course." Chloe nodded and, her face stern, she pushed herself from the car.

Inside, Chloe immediately smiled around her in a way that Beca found extremely satisfying. "This is perfect, Bec."

Beca swallowed down a stupid smile with great effort, "Hi," she turned to the host, "I'm wondering if our other party is already here. The reservation is under Mitchell."

The host skimmed through the paperwork in front of her for a moment before giving a nod, "She is. Right this way please."

If watching Chloe approach her down the stairs had been mind numbing then seeing Aubrey across the restaurant was just as impressive, as she had known it would be. The dim lighting of the bar was perfect for Aubrey's complexion. The silvery light of the candles made her hair glow aureate as it flowed around her shoulders, framing her face. It warmed her pale skin and made the gray of her eyes sparkle. She was sitting, her hand casually around a glass of wine as she waited, her finger nervously tapping on the glasses bowl.

Beca loved seeing her hair down like this. It was beautiful and silky in a way that should be shown off, but more than that, Beca loved it because she knew the only reason why Aubrey wore it down was for them. It was like seeing a secret that was just for them.

Grinning, Beca turned back to Chloe, ready to comment or share in her appreciation but Chloe wasn't looking at her. As a matter of fact, her eyes were glued to Aubrey, the same look Beca had seen in the car was there on her face again. Beca paused, falling a little behind as she thought. It was strange. She thought that maybe she should be upset, right? She shouldn't be okay with seeing Chloe admire Aubrey so much.

So then why was she?

"Bree." Chloe breathed as they approached and then paused, her face twisting into confusion.

"Ma'am." Chloe gave a start and sat, realizing the host had pulled a out for her. Another was pulled out for Beca, which made Beca feel distinctly awkward, making her twitch a smile in uncomfortable gratitude. "How do we say hello?" Chloe asked in a low voice when they were alone. "In public I mean. We can't really all give one another a kiss, can we?"

Aubrey smoothed her napkin in her lap, her mouth falling open and then closing with a tight snap as she shook her head a bit sadly. "I'm not sure. I've looked up some information on being Poly in public and the main piece of advice is to simply be careful and make that choice for yourself. It sounded a lot like the advice articles I've read about lesbianism."

"Aubrey," Beca teasingly gasped, "You've read articles on lesbianism? I thought you were bi-curious at best."

Aubrey didn't seem to know how to answer that, "Things were - different – then – when I said that."

Beca's grin faltered for a moment. She had only been teasing. Usually it was Chloe who made the joke that hurt Aubrey; Beca always seemed to know what would be the wrong thing to say with her, but she was nervous tonight. "Hey," she caught Aubrey's eye, "I was just joking."

Aubrey looked back for a moment before she smiled a little and nodded, color rushing into her cheeks.

"So, what do we think, ladies?" Beca asked, smiling at Aubrey and gently tapping the toe of her shoe against Chloe's. "In or out?"

Aubrey's face darkened once again, looking at them with an open apology, "If a client were to see me…"

Chloe was already nodding in agreement. "Can we just pretend we all kissed hello then?"

Beca nodded. She didn't really have anyone in the city to worry about and she was pretty sure that Chloe wouldn't care but neither of them were the figurehead of a company and _neither_ of them had family like her brother.

Aubrey smiled a little at this and then only smiled more when Chloe leaned over and whispered that she too looked beautiful.

At first the night felt like any other. Chloe teased them as they looked over the menus, Aubrey smiled at her jokes and shook her head while Beca rolled her eyes. They all had a glass of wine, toasting to the first of many dates and the proceeded to get lost in a conversation about the decor and the wine. Aubrey complimented the music while Chloe people watched, a favorite activity of hers, and Beca tried to get her to stop. It wasn't until they had placed their food orders that Chloe finally push things in a different direction.

"So." She handed the server her menu and waited for him to leave before she openly said, "My shoulder is almost back to normal. Can you guys fix that for me?" She said it with that innocent expression on her face, like she didn't know what she was saying was enough to kill a lesser woman.

Beca spluttered on her water, yelping and moaning when it burned her nose while Aubrey seemed as though she had been struck over the head. She stared at Chloe, openly shocked, her nostrils wide, her eyes intense.

Chloe looked back at them, entirely unapologetic. "What?" She reached for their hands but then stopped, her face falling before she rebounded with an even larger grin. "I liked being able to see where you had been…on me. It made me feel like…" but then she didn't seem to know so she just shook her head.

"So then," Aubrey's back straightened, her hands compulsively smoothing the napkin in her lap, "you really did like-"

"I did. It's a primal instinct, isn't it? The want to be marked by your lovers. And the want to mark. To claim. Right? That's why you guys did it. To claim me."

Beca glanced at Aubrey, wondering a little if her head was swimming at the title of 'lovers' too. Had she ever been someone's 'lover'? Yeah, she had been someone's girlfriend and she had been someone's fuck buddy and all of the in between but had anyone ever called her their _lover_ before?

Her mouth dropped open when Chloe's electric blue eyes turned to her and, because she didn't think she knew how to respond - like - at all, she reached for her wine and took a gulp. Chloe seemed to like that response. Her eyes grew slightly hooded, and a second later she felt a foot carefully slide up her leg.

The night changed after that.

They talked about things of little importance with their heads leaning close together, their voices low and the effect of the soft lighting, of the string quartet in the corner, it all was working wonders. When Aubrey or Chloe laughed it was light and warm and filled with everything Beca wanted to taste.

They ate in the same way. One would look up and notice the other two watching her, smile a little shyly and then look down at her plate with a little chuckle or someone would make a joke, casually sharing food off of their fork and something between them would rise, some type of knowing tension. Aubrey would offer her spoon to her and Beca would take the small bite, her eyes on Chloe. She would look at them and would see the arch of Aubrey's eyebrow and know that Chloe was running her foot up her leg under the table.

Beca had never felt casual touches like these, Aubrey would say something, her hand coming to rest on Beca's and she would feel that touch deep into herself, dipped down to her bones. She had never been so enchanted by a woman's laughter, never so completely distracted by the flash of eyes, or the casual way fingers ran over hair.

When their plates were clean she glanced between them, a slightly embarrassed question on her face but Aubrey shook her head.

"I have a dessert I made at home but let's not go yet." Aubrey smiled and glanced around for a moment before she casually brought each of their hands up to her mouth and kissed their knuckles, whispering into them, "I want to take my time, please."

Beca had nearly fallen out of her chair.

Lover.

She was going to be their lover. After tonight.

She had never used that word before in her life and now it was on repeat in her head. _Lover. Lover. Lover. Lover._

Chloe swooned at Aubrey's words, looking at her like she wanted to rip her dress off of her and that had done some amazing things to Beca's head.

They shared another two glasses of wine, talking about jazz, their jobs, the baked pear dessert that Aubrey had made them.

When they finally rose they gave one another carefully knowing smiles; the brush of their fingers electric as Beca helped them with their coats and, because she wasn't thinking about it, leaned forward to brush her lips against their cheeks. They needed to be better at this whole in the closet thing. And she cared about that, she really did. Just not right now.

They walked out to the car hand in hand and though Beca wanted to stop, though she wanted to push them up against a firm surface she stopped herself. Instead she grit her teeth and pushed Chloe toward Aubrey's car, smirking when Chloe wasn't paying attention and bounced off of the statuesque blonde.

Everything in her was humming as they parked together and climbed the stairs into the house that Beca had to admit she was growing quite fond of.

Chloe pressed against Aubrey's back, her lips on Aubrey's neck making Aubrey's hands tremble as she tried to unlock the door.

"I'm sorry," Aubrey gave a shuddering breathy laugh as her fingers fumbled. Beca watched her try, watched her jaw flex, her lips parting and closing, parting and closing, her eyes doing their very best not to roll as Chloe's hands pulled on her shoulders, making her bow backward a little so she could reach better.

Beca finally took pity on Aubrey, taking her keys and opening the door. She had just enough time to close it, kind of, before Aubrey was pulling her in, severing any ability to use her brain with that slow and strong sweep of her tongue. Chloe gently moved to Beca's throat and she had to admit she couldn't blame Aubrey for not being able to function very well.

They tripped and stumbled into the formal living room, Beca whacking her legs on the coffee table and moaning into Aubrey's mouth.

Aubrey, though she was sure she knew what the sound had been about, pulled her in tighter, her lips moving to her jaw, to Chloe's and then back.

"Ladies," Aubrey said after a few moments more of this. "Come inside."

She took their hands and pulled them along, discarding her high heels in the entryway. Beca's mouth was slightly dry, her whole body alive as she felt Chloe all but dancing behind her, pleased to be heading back toward the bedroom, her thumb tracing Beca's hand as she pulled her along.

Aubrey took them, not to the bedroom but to the kitchen, her eyebrow cocking when Chloe hissed. She poured them each another glass of wine and then bent to click on the oven.

"So, how long does that stay in there?" Beca asked, resting her chin on Chloe's shoulder as she leaned against her back.

"Ten minutes or so, just enough to get warm."

They stayed leaning against the counter together, Beca leaning in tightly to Chloe and Aubrey pressed stomach to stomach with her, their eyes hooded as they talked of anything except the tension that was making Beca's head ring. They were prolonging it, Beca knew but as Aubrey's fingers began to slowly trace up and down Beca's ribs and Chloe's began to draw small circles in Aubrey's shoulder, she began to really think 'fuck the dessert'. She wasn't even sure what they were talking about. She was sure she was saying a lot of 'uh-huh's' and 'yeah, totally's' but she had no idea and she was pretty sure that Chloe didn't either. She could feel Aubrey pressing a little closer and so, in turn, Beca did as well.

"Chloe, Beca," Aubrey finally said as Chloe's fingers began to wander over her collarbone, looking like any moment she would be replacing them with her lips. "I just wanted to say before tonight happens." Aubrey paused, seeming to taste her words before she said them, " _Thank you_."

"For?" Beca asked, setting her glass down on the counter behind her and pulling Chloe's hair out of the way so that she could see her better.

"I," Aubrey's eyes danced everywhere in the room but on them, "for wanting me."

"Baby," Chloe cooed, her hand resting against Aubrey's cheek. "Of course we want you."

Aubrey shifted again, her hands falling to Chloe's hips, her eyes like melted iron as she admitted, "I'm nervous."

Beca swallowed. She already had gotten the impression that Aubrey hadn't been with anyone in a while. She had told them that she hadn't _dated_ a woman since college, and though Beca had seen her date a man, she kind of thought that Aubrey was the one of them that leaned heavily toward lesbian. Alright, leaning heavily wasn't right. She had begun to think that Aubrey _was_ a lesbian. She couldn't really blame her for being a little scared. This must be so much for her.

"I'm not." Chloe shook her head, smug confidence on her face. "This is going to be amazing."

The fluttering in Beca's stomach was proof that she was a little nervous too but when Chloe turned to look at her she smiled. She _was_ nervous but she also was pretty sure that she was about to step into something that was literally going to be all consuming, which scared her, and was also totally awesome. And she was okay with that. She wanted to be consumed by them.

The timer went off, making them all jump a little and Aubrey moved to take the baked pear from the oven. The scent of cinnamon and warm sugar filled the room as Aubrey took a bit of it into a bowl and turned to Chloe beside her. With a small smile on her face, she carefully blew on the spoon, her lips turning into a perfect little pout that Beca was sure was supposed to be illegal. When it was cool enough she leaned forward and spooned a little into Chloe's mouth. Chloe moaned. Beca watched the sound transform Aubrey's face and felt the moan trickle down through her own body as well. "Oh my god, Bree, that's so good!"

Aubrey smiled, always happy when they enjoyed her food and turned to make another bowl for Beca.

Chloe, it seemed, didn't think that was necessary and instead turned, pressed lightly into Beca. "Open."

"As in?"

Chloe gave her a smirk that made her melt from the inside out, her eyebrow drawing up, her lips twitching. Chloe's baby blue eyes moved, studying Beca's lips intently as she said in a hum, "Your mouth."

"Oh, uh," Beca rolled her eyes but she literally wasn't going to do anything that might stop this or would change the way that Chloe's body was touching her own so she slowly opened her mouth.

Chloe grinned, her teeth finding her bottom lip as carefully she scooped out a bit of pear and the syrup.

"Gah, dud-" Beca cried as a drizzle of sugary syrup fell from the spoon and down Beca's chin to her chest.

"Oh shit." Chloe's face twisted into discontent as she turned and put the bowl down, "Sorry. I was trying to be sexy." She admitted, her nose wrinkling.

"Napkin? Maybe?"

And then Beca wasn't complaining anymore because Chloe had ducked her head, her tongue running along the spill across her chest. She didn't know why she hadn't expected that. She should have expected that but she hadn't and so her hands closed on Chloe's arms in surprise as she squeaked, "Oh shit."

Chloe hummed, obviously satisfied with her choice to skip the napkin as her tongue flattened, sucking lightly in a way that couldn't be all of that helpful when it came to the whole cleaning up thing. She wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed as her eyes closed, but she literally couldn't keep them open as Chloe's head bobbed, her hair tickling her chin. Chloe let out a satisfied hum as she made her way from her chest to her throat to her jaw before dipping into Beca's mouth.

Beca's breath left her fast at Chloe's quick assent. Chloe seemed to like that and she pushed, her hands closing on Beca's ribs. She pushed her as her tongue swiped with Beca's, all but forcing Beca up onto the counter. She tasted like wine and cinnamon and Beca wanted to taste more. "Oh shit, Chlo," Beca hissed as teeth closed on her ear.

"Mmm, that's me." Aubrey's voice came from beside her and Beca gasped as Chloe gave a deep chuckle. She couldn't even think. She hadn't even realized that Aubrey was there. Her hand went out, pulling Aubrey in closer, fingers tangling in her hair. The annoying thing was she wanted to be suave in the moment, totally calm and put together like she was enjoying being kissed by one of her girls while the other's lips traced her ear - and not like the whole thing was making her body twitch, her leg all but shaking as she scooted from one side and then other, unable to stay still.

She had thought that kissing two women would be hard but she was surprised to find that somehow it just fit naturally. "Fuck," she hissed as lips sucked hard on her neck, fingers bruising her ribs as Aubrey pulled her tightly against her.

This wasn't like last time; that had begun soft and sweet. This time it was all heat. She could feel Chloe's fingers biting into her neck as she kissed her, could feel Aubrey's careful restraint as her kisses came cautiously light.

"Dessert?" She croaked, hoping they understood that was indeed a question.

Chloe pulled back just a bit, her lips already too pink, her cheeks rosy as she twanged, "I don't know about you but I'm about to eat my dessert."

"Fuuuck," Beca groaned when Aubrey's teeth scraped her skin in response, pushing them forward. Okay, she was done with that now, with the distraction. Spinning Chloe, she began to unzip her dress, "Off. That needs to be, get it off!" Still, she didn't give her a lot of room to do so, her mouth on Chloe's neck, her hands grasping her hips. She knew she needed to let go of her if the dress was going to go anywhere but she couldn't seem to get herself to do it. Maybe that was because Aubrey's hands were on her own dress, her nimble fingers carefully trying to find the hidden zipper.

Chloe gave a giggle, pulling away a little as she pushed one shoulder of the dress down and then the other, her grin huge and playful. Beca could feel Aubrey beside her, could feel the weight of her chin on her shoulder as they both watched.

"So then, I should-" Chloe teased, stepping coquettishly back toward the bedroom.

"Dude!" Beca scowled and with the rustle of clothing the dress unceremoniously fell. Fuck. Beca gaped, trying hard to find that this-is-cool-I-swear spot in her but she couldn't. Chloe standing in front of them, her smile radiantly happy, in her panty set and heels. "Wow."

Beca heard a small moan from behind her and suddenly her dress was gone, impatient hands pushing it off of her before she had taken the time to take in each curve of Chloe's body. She had barely even felt the brush of Aubrey's hands unable to find the zipper in the back so, with the expertise of another woman, moving to her side. One moment her dress was there and then next it was pooled around her feet.

"Geez, whoa!"

"Mmm, that was an amazing magic trick, Bree." Chloe grinned, stepping forward and hooking her finger under a strap of Beca's bra and grabbing the edge of Aubrey's dress.

How was any of this real right now? She was literally being led into the bedroom. How was this real at all?

Prim as ever Aubrey politely sat at the edge of the bed, her hands demurely taking off a heel and setting it beside the bed and then the other. She was trying to be polite, Beca could tell, her eyes wouldn't stop roving, taking in every inch of both of them.

"Uh-uh." Chloe shook her head and without preamble, pushed Aubrey back.

Beca watched, struck dumb as Chloe's fingers worked quickly, undoing each button along Aubrey's side and sliding her out of her dress like she was unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. Beca had known the view would be a good one, she had been sure of that and she was right. Aubrey was seventy inches of pale smooth skin, curves and willowy legs all wrapped carefully in a neutral shaded panty set and garters to hold up her thigh highs. While Beca wanted to literally touch and possibly taste every inch she flinched a little, thinking that maybe that had been one of those moments where Chloe could have been a little more cautious of the blonde. Still, whatever damage had been done was wiped away when Chloe leaned forward and kissed her with that sweetness that only Chloe could bring. Aubrey melted as Chloe climbed atop of her, her hands cupping her face, the light blue of Chloe's set warm against Aubrey's skin.

Beca had fantasized about this and while in the back of her mind she felt a little weird that she hadn't worn something beautiful and matching under her dress as much as a plain pair of black panties, she couldn't quite touch that concern. She was too busy watching the way that Chloe's body couldn't quite cover Aubrey's, too busy seeing Aubrey's hands close in the comforter, too distracted hearing Chloe moan and realizing that the moan was her own name, a demand that she join them.

"Beca!"

She jumped, "Right!"

"Fuck, Bree," Chloe moaned, her fingers trailing down Aubrey's long stomach, making it twitch and dance. Her head dipped, sucking on Aubrey's side, just below her ribs.

Aubrey gasped, her hands clamping down on Chloe.

"I've wanted to try that since that day at Beca's." Chloe admitted.

Aubrey didn't answer as Chloe kissed a trail down her ribs, her side and back up.

"You're so hot Bree. How are you so hot?" Chloe moaned.

Aubrey tried to chuckle but seemed to lose all air in her lungs as, realizing Beca was there Chloe leaned over to kiss her, all but falling in her haste to get to her lips. She slid off of Aubrey, leaving her bare to them, one on either side of her.

"I feel like there's so many places that I want to put my hands. I can't decide where to start."

"Errr," Beca wasn't sure what to say to that. Or maybe it was just that Aubrey's nose was tracing the shell of her ear when she laughed and it was intoxicating.

"I know the feeling," Aubrey mused, her hand sliding along Beca's stomach.

Chloe kissed her way up Aubrey's throat, making her hands spasm as they rested against the blanket, before hovering just over her and with Beca's hand in her own, she let them rest on Aubrey's stomach, "Can I really touch you?"

Aubrey's eyelashes fluttered but she gave a very small, very stiff, very nervous nod.

"Bec?"

Beca swallowed thickly and then when that wasn't enough she cleared her throat, giving an awkward nod, "That's uh, that's what we're doing here, right?"

Chloe's fingers wrapped around the back of Aubrey's neck, her lips parting in anticipation but then, she carefully let her free hand trail over Beca's breast.

She hadn't expected it, hadn't expected the intensity of both of their eyes as they watched her reaction, the way her eyes closed, the way she instantly leaned forward to deepen the touch. She could feel Chloe's smile without having to see it as she gently trailed the back of her fingers over an obvious nipple.

She was doing it for Aubrey, touching Beca instead of her while she adjusted to the thought and the kindness touched Beca. She usually was a bull in Aubrey's delicate china shop and while she knew that Chloe cared about each and every crack, she often couldn't help but to make them. Now though, she watched Chloe carefully lace their fingers together and bring them to Beca, each gently massaging and the sentiment and the sensation was enough to make Beca's face drop to Aubrey's shoulder, moaning a little.

"Are you okay?" She asked her.

"Yeah." Aubrey said a little too fast, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Chloe nodded, her lips meeting Aubrey's as her hand found a firmer purchase, very gently kneading.

Beca gave a small grunt, massaging Chloe's hip as she leaned over and kissed Aubrey's ear. She liked the way it made her shiver mid-kiss and so she did it again and again until she was leaning over, her upper body twisted over Aubrey as she made her way up and down the side of her face, over her jaw, into her hair and back, Chloe doing the same on the other side.

"Are you okay?" Beca asked into her ear again, feeling the way that though little sighs were falling from Aubrey constantly, her hands were also balling tightly in the comforter under Beca's back.

"I-" Aubrey gasped as Chloe nipped at the swell just over her bra, the hand behind her tightening further.

"Bree?"

Aubrey's eyes opened and what she saw there surprised her. It wasn't hesitation that Aubrey was feeling, not at all. Beca let out an awkward squeak as Aubrey grabbed her into a kiss, authoritatively thrusting into her mouth, forcing her tongue to move with hers.

Chloe let out a growl of frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't like the padding in your bra."

Aubrey chuckled but before she could say anything, Beca moved down her side, playfully nipping at her ribs. Aubrey gasped, drawing air in so fast that she choked a little and had to cough.

Chloe grinned, her fingers teasing over Aubrey's ribs and making her squirm. "That's a spot for you, isn't it?"

Beca saw her nod, her eyes closed and carefully, lightly bit one of Aubrey's ribs.

She let out the softest, highest, sexiest little moan that Beca had ever heard and her mind went dumb. She forgot to be careful. Her hands flattened on Aubrey's stomach, curling around her opposite waist as she began to work her way down her side, her thigh, her leg.

She should probably be careful but Chloe was kissing Aubrey with abandon, her hand over Aubrey's bra, and her own mouth was on the inner side of Aubrey's knee, and she just couldn't. Her lips moved, her mouth tasting her way up Aubrey's inner thigh, pushing herself between them as Chloe's mouth descended, down the side of her clothed breast, back to her ribs.

Aubrey's hips gave a buck and a powerful twitch, making Beca sink her teeth in.

The sound that Aubrey let out was a strong one.

She chuckled, her hands running up her thighs to pin Aubrey's hips while Chloe began to murmur, her fingers tracing across the spot that was clearly so sensitive on Aubrey's torso as she worked her way back to her ear.

"Bree," Chloe whispered, so low that Beca could barely hear it. "I want to touch you."

Aubrey gasped.

"I want to put my mouth on you. Can I do that?"

Beca didn't hear Aubrey's response but her hips were moving again, faster now.

"I want Beca to taste you. I want her to help me make you come."

Beca wasn't sure if it was she or Aubrey that groaned as the words made her clamp down, purpling Aubrey's inner thigh, her fingers trailing back and forth, touching everywhere but where she knew Aubrey wanted her to, where _she_ wanted to.

She knew that Chloe continued her whispering but she couldn't seem to take the words in anymore as Aubrey's torso twisted, pulling Chloe's bra down and taking a nipple into her mouth. Beca watched, her breath hot on Aubrey's skin as she moved a little nonsensically, unable to look away from how Chloe's head fell back, the way she pulled Aubrey in tighter, her hands spidering through her hair.

Aubrey's sounds were washing over Beca, one right after the other, so many and so fast that it was all Beca could do to keep herself steady. She released Aubrey's thigh, gently holding her in place as Chloe began to whisper again, her voice catching and thick. She kissed her away over Aubrey's hip, across her belly and back down the other side, grinning as Aubrey's free hand fell to Beca's shoulder, not pressing but instead clutching to the point of pain.

Aubrey had gone silent as Beca carefully sucked on the tendon between thigh and groin, perhaps making room for all of the noises that Chloe was making. In the silence Beca realized that, wait, a phone was ringing? Why was a phone ringing? Who the fuck was calling this late?

She didn't care much.

Beca kissed back across her belly, a finger tracing her panty line, ready to taste her, to stop teasing her.

The phone silenced, only to pick up ringing again a second later.

She hooked a finger, ready to pull the cloth out of the way but paused, giving Aubrey one pointed, but polite kiss over Aubrey's panty covered sex.

There was a thick catching of breath and very suddenly Aubrey went tense, the hand on her shoulder making Beca cry out. Chloe's moans cut off abruptly.

Beca watched as Aubrey's stomach muscles twitched, tensed and released, tensed and released, her feet lifting her slightly off of the bed, face hidden in Chloe's chest.

Aubrey gave a loud mortified sob.

Eyebrows high Beca exchanged a look with Chloe, who seemed just as alarmed and astounded as she was. There was an honest to god _snarl,_ a wave of very unladylike, un-Aubrey-like swearing and Aubrey was _gone_ , stomping to the kitchen.

Beca just blinked, confused.

"Did she just-"

Beca's hand closed over Chloe's mouth, her own still hanging open. She wasn't sure, but she _knew_ that Aubrey's reaction told them that she was going to be sensitive about it.

Chloe seemed to understand and nodded. "That's Chad's tone, right?" Chloe asked, pushing her hair out of her face, her chest rising and falling as she reached around and removed the bra that was hanging around her ribs. She did it so easily, as though it was nothing and Beca stared, taking in the small mole that sat just to the left of a lightly pink nipple.

Chloe had been talking but she stopped and smirked at Beca.

"Uh, Chad. Right. Yeah, that was his ringtone. I think so." Beca shrugged, pushing her way over to Chloe and catching her lips, her hand sliding down her side, pulling her over by the leg. Chloe wasted no time in wrapping over Beca's side, giving her the perfect spot to run her hands from the soft breast to the back of her thigh as they kissed, waiting for Aubrey.

A hiccup of a moan distracted them a few minutes later but this moan wasn't the same they had heard as they had kissed Aubrey, readying themselves to touch her. Aubrey had just come back into the room, her face a scowl, looking at everything but them.

"You okay, Bree?" Beca asked, sitting up trying to read the emotional weather on Aubrey's face. She didn't like the look there.

Aubrey, the phone clutched to her chest like she was going to crush it, studied her fingernails of her other hand. "I have to go."

"What? No!"

"Bree, whatever happened just now-" Chloe started and Beca shot her a glare.

Aubrey's whole body twitched nervously. "I don't have a choice," she finally said, her voice remote, distant. "Chad - and a client - and our lawyer, I don't know but I have to go fix it."

Beca frowned, truly hating her brother right then. "Wait, what happened?"

" _I don't know_ ," Aubrey snapped. "My brother got into a dispute with a client at a bar and they called their lawyers instead of, I don't know, _Beca_ , anyone else."

"Okay, whoa!" Beca put her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you all - um, okay, that's okay."

It really wasn't okay. They hadn't even gotten started yet, something had just happened with Aubrey, they needed to talk – or really, really, _really_ not talk. Trying not to let herself be upset she nodded, worry making her stomach sick, "I'll take Chloe-"

"No!" Aubrey cut her off, going to the closet and reaching for something work appropriate. Beca took a long slow breath, not sure she could handle the idea that Aubrey was in thigh highs and a garter under those pressed black slacks. Was that always true? Did she always have stuff like that on under her clothes? She didn't know but she was pretty sure she was never going to think about anything else when she was with Aubrey now.

Aubrey seemed to feel better when her body was clothed again. A bit dejected, Aubrey sat down on the edge of the bed and they scooted in, Chloe kissing her cheek while Beca just sat close, concerned with the upset in Aubrey's eyes. If she had just – _whatever_ – from those small touches then that wasn't that big of a deal. She wished that Aubrey would at least look at her, at either of them. "I'm sorry that I have to go."

"Bree, don't apologize."

Aubrey nodded, studying her hands, "Will you -"

Beca pushed her chin up, already knowing what was on Aubrey's mind, trying to get her to face her. Aubrey wouldn't. "We'll wait for you. Okay? We won't - not without you."

Relief was clear in Aubrey's face for a moment before it darkened, her gray eyes dampening.

"Bree -"

"Oh my god, sleepover!" Chloe cried, grinning happily.

Aubrey stood, pulling away from Beca. "Please make yourselves at home, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can."

It took a moment for Aubrey to leave, not looking at them as she clicked out of the room, her hair up and her face set.

"I really hate him," Chloe admitted when she was gone.

"Yeah, me too."

"He just, ugh, he's so bad at his job and yet he holds it over her."

"I know."

"Bec. Did Aubrey-"

She shook her head, "I don't know. I think so."

"But we didn't _touch_ her." She hotly whispered. "I hadn't even taken her bra off yet."

"Chloe," Beca's eyes rolled, "I kinda think that's exactly why she's upset. I mean, think about how uncomfortable she must have felt. I," her cheeks went pink and she rolled her eyes but continued anyway, "I don't think she was even fully – you know, _done_ yet when she got up."

Chloe frowned, wrapping her arms around Beca and kissing her shoulder. "Poor baby."

"I guess she wasn't kidding when she said it's been a while."

"Do you think she," Chloe swallowed thickly, "I don't think she even touches herself. Do you?"

"Not really."

"It makes sense that she would come that easily, I guess."

"Yeah, but, I don't know, I think I'd be embarrassed too."

"I wish she wouldn't be."

"Same. I don't - ugh, I don't really care. I just want a chance to do it, you know, _properly_."

Chloe fell into a thoughtful silence, her face a scowl before she sighed. "Do you think she would mind if I used her shower? It seems like we're settling in for the night, right?"

Beca shrugged. She wasn't sure what they were supposed to do.

"Do you think," she stood, giving Beca a perfect view of her long back and heart shaped ass as she went to Aubrey's dresser. She wanted to attack, to pull the last bit of clothing away. Instead she let herself fall over, her face pressed into the pillow as she watched Chloe move totally uninhibited through one eye. "Yes!" Chloe grinned over her shoulder and pulled out a few tee shirts, "Pajamas! What's wrong?"

Beca just moaned again, "You're not wearing very much."

There was silence for a moment before she felt Chloe pulling her back up, straddling her hips, "Is that bad, Bec?"

The sound that Beca made was probably not _totally_ human as Chloe leaned down and kissed her.

Fuck. She hated Chad. She hated him. Her hands ran down Chloe's back, carefully squeezing her to her. Ugh, kissing Chloe was great. Kissing Aubrey was great. Kissing was great.

Chloe made a small sound in her throat as Beca's hands drifted further down, tracing the line of her underwear before grazing her rear. "Mmm," she groaned, her lips working down Beca's chin to her throat and back. "We have to stop."

"Shit. Yeah, we do." Beca didn't exactly stop kissing her though, just like she didn't stop her hands from running up Chloe's ribs and cupping her breasts. They were so soft, so warm.

Chloe groaned, half a whimper, half a scowl of frustration.

"Right." Beca's hands snapped away, "Right."

"Right." Chloe nodded, but her kissing was only more pressing and within seconds Beca's hands were back, her fingers grazing the curve, her thumb running over the peak of a nipple. And once she had done that once, she had to do it a few more times, loving Chloe's reaction.

"Have to stop!" Beca suddenly shouted, her hands slamming back on the comforter.

"What? Right. Yes. Oh god, yeah, we do." Chloe sobbed out, her face falling to Beca's neck. "Damn it."

It took Chloe another minute of catching her breath before she pulled herself off. "Okay. I need that shower."

Beca stood too, though she was not sure why. "So what do I do now? Like, do I just get in her bed or like-?"

Chloe frowned too, "Would that be weird?"

"Kinda."

"Um, maybe let's watch some TV in the den?"

Beca decided that maybe following in Chloe's lead was a good idea. She spent a few minutes in the bathroom off of the kitchen while Chloe showered in the one off the bedroom. She removed her makeup and brushed her hair, wondering if it should feel weird that she was doing this, that she was basically getting ready for bed in Aubrey's house without Aubrey even there. When she was done with that she decided to pull on the shirt that Chloe had out for her in lieu of putting her dress back on, then looked through until she found a pair of shorts. It was definitely weird that she was going through Aubrey's drawers. She was sure of that.

She had settled on the couch and was flipping through channels when Chloe reappeared, her hair wet, in a tee shirt and her underwear. "Are you wearing a pair of Aubrey's running shorts?"

Beca looked down at the brightly colored shorts with a frown, "Um, maybe? You think she's going to be weirded out that we're in her clothes?"

"Well," she chewed her lip as she settled in beside her, "your dress did have a spill on it."

Beca rolled her eyes, trying her best to ignore the long expanse of Chloe's thigh as she pulled her legs up under her, "Yeah," she grumbled, looking back at the TV so it wouldn't be obvious, "thanks for that."

"Mmm, you're welcome." Chloe's nose scrunched in a playful smile as she ran her fingers through her still damp hair.

"You think she'll be gone long?"

"With Bumper? Or _Chad_ or whatever? Probably not. I hope not!"

"Not knowing we're waiting for her." Beca said, trying to be firm. "As far as she knows we're still in our underwear in her bed. That's gotta make her hurry, right?" She said it but as she did she remembered the way that Aubrey had been avoiding their eyes just before leaving.

She and Chloe watched two CSI episodes in the den while waiting for Aubrey, Chloe captivated and, not to Beca's surprise, working out the killer long before she did and before the show even hinted at the 'who done it'. The second one, however, brought yawns. Beca was beginning to feel the hour, though Chloe was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as ever.

She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep at first as Chloe woke her with gentle kisses to the face and neck.

"Sweetie, let's go to bed."

"Aubreyhome?"

"Not yet. I texted her but she said that she is having a hard time with the client. I'm not sure when she will be back."

"How are they working this late?" Beca grumbled, a little grumpy, "Why was Chad even there?"

"I don't know, sweetie but you're sleepy."

"Weshouldgo,huh?"

"No. She asked us to stay, remember?"

"I don't think she meant pass out in her bed, Chlo." Beca chuckled, sitting up and trying to shake the sleep off of her.

"I think she did. Come on. I bet she would be really happy. Let's do it. Please." Chloe's long lashes bat at her and she groaned.

"Fine. Whatever." It was too late to get into one of those Chloe puppy eye moments.

Beca went to the bathroom, using her finger as a toothbrush before she headed back into the bedroom.

"Do you think that Aubrey as a side?"

Beca frowned, totally grossed out as Chloe came out of the other bathroom, a toothbrush in her mouth. "Dude, are you using Aubrey's toothbrush?"

Chloe just shrugged.

"Chlo! That's so foul!"

"I've had my tongue in her mouth, Becs," Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Different. 100 percent different."

"Whatever." Chloe went to finish up her teeth, calling after her, "We should have packed overnight bags."

"Well, I wasn't exactly planning on needing one, dude. I kind of thought I would go to bed without any pajamas and get up in the morning and go home."

The bathroom light clicked off and Chloe came out waggling her eyebrows.

"You sleep naked, huh?"

"I do after sex."

Chloe made a purring sound, leaning in for a kiss. "I like this." She admitted as she started to crawl over the bed. "It almost feels like we live here. All three of us."

Beca smirked, pausing as she pulled the covers back for Chloe. She hadn't been able to place the feeling and now that made perfect sense. She had to admit she liked this too. "Where do you sleep?"

Chloe smiled a little, climbing over her, "The wall."

"Okay. Wall it is."

She liked the homey comfort of it as she settled in, letting Chloe cuddle into her. It was true that though Aubrey was missing, knowing that she would eventually come home and join them was kind of great. Chloe sighed, her nose pressing lightly into Beca's throat as she settled in, her legs tangling with Beca's.

"I like this."

"Me too."

They planned on staying awake until Aubrey got home, really not sure if it was rude to be asleep. They talked in whispers about the plans for their next weekend, about the latest Hollywood scandal and about the most recent in a string of political happenings but far too soon Beca's eyes began to flutter and they both fell into a deep and comfortable sleep.

Beca yelped, flinging an arm over her eyes as suddenly her sleep was broken by a blinding light. "What the shit?" She yelped, sitting straight up, groaning at the pain that was shooting in through her eyes and ripping apart her brain. She had been asleep, she was sure of that. Right? Sleeping?

" _Oh_."

She tried to glare at the woman standing in the doorway but she couldn't open her eyes enough to see. "Dude! Wha - _why?_ " She winced, peeking through enough to see Chloe rolling over and covering her face with a pillow. The pain started to _slowly_ subside and Beca frowned.

There was something strange on Aubrey's face, a confusion or upset that Beca wasn't quite sure she knew. Why was she just standing there in the doorway? Was this about her impromptu orgasm? What the fuck, why were the lights still on?

"You're still here?"

Beca looked around a little confused by the question, "Um. Yes?" She rubbed at her eyes a little more, uncomfortable.

Maybe getting into Aubrey's bed really had been too much. They sometimes forgot that while Aubrey had really relaxed with them, she was still Aubrey and she did still have her rules that were to be followed at all times.

"I uh, I hope it's okay that we went to bed. We didn't want to leave and uh, we thought you would be home before we fell asleep."

Aubrey wasn't saying anything and Beca didn't like that. _Had_ they offended her? Maybe they should have taken the couches? They had shared a bed once before but it had been different, things had been kind of emotional.

"Is that my shirt?"

"Oh." Shit. Beca guiltily looked down at the gray Boston tee shirt Chloe had handed her from her drawer. "Uh, yeah. Yeeeeeah, sorry. We didn't want to put our dresses back on and," what the fuck was happening with Aubrey right now? She really didn't like the staring thing and she definitely did not like the fact that Aubrey wasn't really blinking. She opened her mouth, looking for something to say and random shit spilled out in her stress, "Chloe was having fun." Why was this what she came up with? "She kept talking about it feeling like we were living together."

"She said what?"

Alarmed by the expression there Beca jumped to Chloe's defense, "No, like, it was just fun. Like, I don't know. And fuck. Never mind." Aubrey's face still didn't change, her lips twisted, her eyebrows drawn together. And she was _still_ standing in the doorway with her hand on the light switch. "Sorry." Beca squirmed. She didn't normally feel so uncomfortable under Aubrey's scrutiny, or at least it didn't make her twitch like she had seen with Chloe and many others. Right now though, lying in Aubrey's clothes, in technically yesterday's underwear, sleepily bra-less, next to Chloe, and in Aubrey's bed - she was having a little bit harder of a time rolling her eyes and just letting Aubrey be Aubrey. She shook her head, pushing herself to get up, "Sorry, we shouldn't have. We'll go. We uh,"

"No!" Aubrey's hand shot out and Beca recoiled into the pillows, a little jumpy.

"Dude!"

Aubrey's mouth fell open a bit as she searched for words. "I'm sorry," She breathed then seeming to realize she was being strange she shook her head a little and clicked the light back off. "I'm sorry for this whole night. No, it's late. You should stay."

Beca frowned into the dark, her eyes once again screaming in protest. She couldn't tell what the fuck was going on. "Bree?"

Chloe let out an annoyed groan beside them, clearly not at all about this noise. They had learned early that maybe Chloe didn't sleep as much as them or as early as them but you really needed to not fuck with her sleep when she was getting it - even if she was getting it on your shoulder while you watched a movie.

"Bree?" Beca hissed a little quieter, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all, Beca. You should go back to sleep."

"Um."

"It's okay." She watched Aubrey finally move, her whole body dropping a few inches as she stepped out of her heels.

Not sure of what the fuck else to do, Beca scooted down into the bed again, accepting the arm that Chloe flung over her. "'Kay." Beca cleared her throat, "Goodnight. Then? I guess?"

"Goodnight," Aubrey said, her voice stiff in the darkness.

Lying back down and trying to freaking _sleep_ was really not what Beca wanted to do just then. How was she even supposed to do it with this thick layer of awkward between them? She had no idea what was wrong with Aubrey, whether it was work, the possible orgasm, or it was their invasion of her privacy but she didn't move as Aubrey stepped from the room and back into the kitchen. Beca heard the water running for a moment and then a glass gently tap the counter as she set it down. She heard the fridge open and shut as Aubrey put away the dessert from earlier in the evening and then the soft pad of feet as Aubrey crossed into the bedroom and through to the bathroom.

Beca watched her go, a little baffled.

A few minutes later Aubrey came back out, her hair down again.

She wasn't sure if Aubrey thought she had fallen back to sleep or if she knew she was awake as she went to the dresser and slid it open, pulling something out and then carefully unbuttoning her shirt.

Images flashed through Beca's mind of the skin that Beca had seen earlier that night, of the panty set, of the warm skin of her thighs, the mole on Aubrey's hipbone that she had never been given the chance to know, of the fact that Aubrey's legs from hip to foot had looked like they were as long as Beca's entire body, of the small hickey she knew she had left on her inner thigh.

She couldn't see Aubrey, not really. Still, she closed her eyes when Aubrey glanced back at the bed before carefully slipping out of her bra and quickly into a soft shirt.

Beca waited, knowing that the next step was either keep stalling or getting into bed. It took a few minutes but finally she felt the bed shift as Aubrey slid in. She waited for Aubrey's weight to settle into her, she waited for her scent to draw in close, for Aubrey to sigh or show any sign of comfort that was normally associated with bed but none of them came. Instead she could feel tension radiating from Aubrey as she stuck to the very edge of the mattress, so far and so stiff that Beca felt herself respond in kind, stiffening too.

The fuck was happening right now? Had they really made this big of a mistake? What the fuck? This wasn't that big of a deal, right? Aubrey wasn't exactly one to just give in if she didn't want something. If this was so significant then why didn't she just tell them to move to the couch?

She counted Aubrey's slightly uneven breaths, waiting for Aubrey to calm, only she didn't. She stayed stiff as a board, not moving, barely breathing until finally Beca couldn't take it anymore.

"Dude," She whispered, making Aubrey jump. "You're fucking freaking me out. Do I smell bad or something? What's _wrong_?"

"I did not say anything was wrong, Beca."

"Am I supposed to be buying that? Because I'm not."

"Beca." She sighed.

"Look," she whispered, "if it's about the – you know – the – god damn it, the fact that you came then-"

"No." Aubrey cut her off, her voice muffled as if she was hiding behind her hands. "That was – unfortunate but no."

"Bree, you don't need to be embarrassed. It was-"

"You're in my bed." Aubrey's answer came in the middle of Beca's words, making her roll her eyes into the darkness.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, should we not,"

"It's late." Aubrey cut her off.

Okay, it was so annoying when she did that. She could _at least_ let her finish her sentence.

"I know, but uh,"

"You're in my bed."

Beca scowled, a little peeved. Hadn't _she_ been the one to ask them to stay? And yeah, okay they could have taken the couches but fuck! Aubrey was acting like a child about this. She had thought they were past the majority of this type A behavior, at least enough for Aubrey to say if she was this fucking uncomfortable. Fine. Fucking fine. If it was that big of a deal. "Ooookay then." She pushed herself up, ready to swing her leg over Aubrey and get the fuck up but a stiff hand flattened on her chest, shoving her back down. "Dude, I'm fucking going!" She cried, annoyed enough not to care that Chloe whimpered awake next to them.

"What's wrong?" Her sleepy voice asked.

Beca tried to sit up again, "Apparently we should have stayed on the couches or-" she gave a grunt as Aubrey rolled over her, pinning her body.

Even in the dark Beca could see the way her eyes were blown wide and intense, "Beca. I came home from a really clustershit of a night and you two were _in my bed_."

"Dude, I'm trying to fix-"

"Beca." Aubrey growled, her fingers suddenly digging into Beca's sternum.

Exasperated Beca just closed her mouth, honestly pissed now. If she wanted her fucking gone then what the fuck? She was fine with it. She would rather go back to her bed that wasn't fucking filled by a chic who kicked in her sleep and a giant of a woman who was all stony and pissed. Whatever.

"Bree?" Chloe mumbled, pushing her hair out of her face, her voice as no-nonsense as it could be given she had just woken, "What's going on?"

" _I came home_ ," Aubrey said slowly, obnoxiously slowly, "and you were _in my bed_ ." They both waited, still not sure what the end result of that was supposed to be. "I've never come home to anyone in my bed before. Like they were _mine_."

Beca just stared, "Oh." And then more slowly, " _Ooooooh_." Did that mean… She had been taking Aubrey's aggression the wrong way. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it and then just let it stay open as Aubrey's fingers bruised her chest. She wanted to say something, some type of declaration or confirmation but though she understood the need for well-placed sentiment, she couldn't get something that lame or sappy out of her.

"And it's very late. And you both were sleeping."

Chloe seemed to understand Aubrey fully. "Bree," she said, scooting in so she could run her nose along Aubrey's jaw. Even in the darkness, Beca could see Aubrey's eyes close with relish at the touch. "We can sleep in the _morning_."

Beca had enough time to register one thing, one thought. _'Oh shit'_. And then Chloe was kissing Aubrey, pushing herself half over Beca and pulling Aubrey in. "Shit." She squeaked, watching them thrash, _seeing_ their tongues move, feeling Aubrey's fingers scrape against her chest as she balled her hands into a fist. "Fuck." She gasped as Chloe's hand moved to Beca's thigh, holding them all in place.

She watched them kiss, unable to move, unable to stop registering the brush of their bodies against her, the small little sounds of satisfaction that were coming from Aubrey's throat, unable to stop enjoying watching the woman who usually pushed her into a kiss, now being pushed.

Aubrey moved, leaning further into Beca, her head tilting and a sheet of blonde fell across her face as Chloe's lips moved down her jaw. Completely on reflex Beca's hand moved, pushing her fingers through it, holding the hair away so she could see.

Jesus. She wet her lips, her mouth going slack as, though she wasn't being kissed, though she was barely being touched, she found she couldn't quite get a deep breath. "How is that so _hot?_ " Had she said that out loud? She didn't know but she heard Chloe moan, her hand sliding to Beca's inner thigh.

Fuck, she wanted more.

"Shit." Aubrey pulled away from Chloe suddenly, her eyes closed as her face fell to Beca's chest, carefully breathing. Her shoulders rose and fell quickly, her breath hot on Beca's stomach.

Beca eyed Chloe, a little annoyed that they had stopped and a lot annoyed Aubrey was trying to contain herself, was trying to calm herself. Beca didn't want that. Neither did Chloe apparently because she lunged, pressing Aubrey backward into the pillows, making Aubrey cry out as Chloe dived back into her, straddling her, planting herself firmly over her.

Beca watched for another moment, dumbstruck. She wanted to see. She wanted - she glanced over and saw there was a bedside light. She clicked it on and bit back a groan. Fuck, they looked amazing together. Her hands began moving of their own accord. She ran her fingers over Aubrey's hips, liking the way that they were moving under Chloe ever so slightly. They ran up Chloe's thigh, over the small waist of her panties and under her shirt. She wanted it gone, preferably now. Aubrey's fingers caught the front of it and they pulled. Chloe let out a giggle, sitting up so that together they could pull the shirt off.

"Shit." Aubrey gasped, her eyes raking over Chloe's bare skin, over the satisfied smile Chloe gave them both as she sat proudly in her underwear and nothing else.

Beca wrapped her arm around her waist, leaning Chloe back to take a kiss, to kiss down her neck and shoulder, her hands sliding up to gently cup and then tweak a light nipple.

She liked that, she liked the way that when she brushed her palms over Chloe's sensitive skin she heard two moans. She liked watching Aubrey watch them, liked looking down into dark gray eyes as she slid her hands up and down Chloe's body, reveling in the way Aubrey's lips parted, the way that Chloe whimpered, her lips pressed against Beca's ear.

This was amazing. She had known it would be. It had been amazing earlier too. Only, this was so much more than she had planned on.

"Wait."

Instantly Beca's ire was up. "NO!" They were not waiting again. This was the moment! No! Aubrey sat up under Chloe, her face livid.

"No, wait," Chloe laughed with a casual grace that most couldn't quite muster when mostly naked in front of someone for the first time. How was it that this beautiful, intelligent woman could make it seem like being so bare under their eyes was the most natural thing in the world? Her hand gave each of them a quick squeeze and then she pushed herself to the side and off the bed. Beca opened her mouth to protest and then forgot to as Chloe carefully slipped off her panties and shook out her hair, her lip between her teeth, her eyes twinkling.

"Fuuuuuck," Beca moaned, taking in her naked body as, before either had thought to move, a very naked Chloe slid right back between them.

"Holy shit." Aubrey groaned, falling back to the bed, her hands fisted and pressing into her eyes.

"Hey." Chloe gave a pout, "I'm kind of on display here." She said and took Aubrey's fists, cupping them tightly to her bare hips. "The least you can do is look."

" _Holy shit,_ " she all but panted as once she was sure that Aubrey's hands were going to stay there, Chloe pushed Aubrey's shirt up, making sure that there was nothing between herself and Aubrey's skin. "Oh god."

"I thought that getting rid of those might help our end goal here." Chloe shrugged, her grin playful as she leaned over and kissed Aubrey again, her hands cupping her jaw, before leaning back and catching Beca's lips.

It was too much. Beca quickly pulled her shirt off, just wanting to feel Chloe's skin against hers as she leaned back. "Jesus," she mumbled, feeling Chloe's fingers scratching against her thigh as Aubrey's hands tentatively moved, down her hips, over her thighs, up and over her waist and ribs.

"Bree, you don't need to be so careful. You can touch me."

Aubrey gave a short dry laugh, her fingers still shaking a little as she held herself back, "I think we already proved tonight that I do need to be careful. I,"

"Bree." Chloe's voice was firm, her hands once again cupping Aubrey's jaw. It took her a second to get Aubrey's direct eye contact, even from her vantage point Beca could see Aubrey resisting, her eyes bouncing to her and then away again. "What happened was _okay_ ," she said once she had her gaze.

Aubrey gave a pointed throat clear, trying to turn her head.

"Dude." The change of pace was a little disorienting and it took her a moment for her mind to work, but then she nodded. "It's true."

"Chloe!" Aubrey scoffed, looking like she might throw Chloe off of her. "I came in my pants like a little boy!"

Beca couldn't help her snort of a laugh.

Chloe, for her part, smirked and leaned over, catching Aubrey in a long, thorough kiss, "It's just because of how sexy we are. That's all."

"Bree." Beca tried, "It's whatever. You don't need to be embarrassed. Seriously."

Aubrey's mouth opened, her jaw flexing before her head fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She looked like she was going to cry again.

That hurt to see and so Beca, leaning against Chloe's back, reached around her and carefully touched her cheek.

"It's just been," Aubrey sighed, her voice shaky, "it's been a very long time since I can fully remember someone touching me – or touching someone else. A woman, anyway."

"I told you it's because we are sexy." Chloe smirked, leaning down and kissing her jaw.

Aubrey laughed at that. Even Beca grinned and rolled her eyes a little.

"Baby."

"Hmm?" Aubrey's eyes finally came away from the ceiling, looking surprised at the epithet.

"Let's fix that, okay?" She took the hand of Aubrey's that had snuck into Beca's and very carefully she ran it up her thigh, her hip, her side, her ribs and over one of her breast.

Beca watched the changing looks on Aubrey's face with absorption. She watched as Aubrey's eyes followed her hands progress, her breath catching as she cupped her.

Chloe's hand gently flexed over Aubrey's, massaging and they both twitched, moaning together.

Beca just watched, transfixed, blown away by Chloe's kindness, by her sweetness and by the open wonder on Aubrey's face.

Chloe squeezed again, molding Aubrey's fingers and giving an encouraging nod when they began working on their own. "That's good. Bree, that's good."

Beca still just watched, her pulse, which had slowed a bit, began to pick back up as Aubrey sat up suddenly, kissing Chloe's collar, her chest, her throat.

Chloe's breath violently caught as Aubrey's head dipped and she carefully wrapped a tongue around a nipple, first one and then the other, only to go back to the first. Beca swore, her fingers tangling in Aubrey's hair, holding her to Chloe as Chloe's head fell back and she began to suck behind Beca's ear.

"Fuck," Chloe whimpered, "That's good, Bree, that's,"

Beca hiccupped out a gasp, a little surprised when Aubrey's wandering hands found her ribs, only just seeming to realize that Beca was shirtless as well and wanted to take full advantage, her thumbs stroking her nipples, running down her sides and back up. It was such a light, sweet, personal touch but Beca's body pressed into Chloe, whimpering and wanting more. She aggressively cupped a breast, still wet from Aubrey's mouth as Chloe's breath hissed hotly into her ear.

"God, somebody. Please." Chloe whined, her hips moving against nothing in time with Aubrey's mouth.

Beca chuckled, sliding a hand between Chloe and Aubrey and then stopped, "Oh fuck," she whimpered. "Oh _fuck!_ Chloe!" Gently she ran her fingers through her and then, because she thought Aubrey would like it, muttered, "Bree. She's _so_ wet." Her cheeks went warm, her mind catching up with her words a moment too late.

Aubrey gave a soft pant of surprise, falling back against the pillows as Beca continued to run and through over Chloe, not adding any pressure but simply feeling. Her lip was starting to hurt from where she was biting it, her legs were starting to burn from the effort of holding up her own weight as well as Chloe's with no support but she didn't care.

" _Move_."

Beca grinned down at Aubrey, loving the firmly authoritative tone, loving the way that when she did it was Aubrey who let out the high keen as, without preamble, she pointedly sank first a single and then another finger into Chloe.

Both women's reactions were strong and Beca swore again as she watched from over Chloe's shoulder, seeing the way that Chloe's stomach muscles clenched, feeling the way that Chloe's fingers dug into the back of Beca's head, trying to grab hold.

"Oh shit, Bree. Baby, fuck," Chloe whimpered, her hips rolling once against her and making Aubrey hiss. As Aubrey began to move, she felt Chloe's head fall back over her shoulder again, her mouth open and letting out the kind of sounds that Beca hoped to hear from her over and over again. Aubrey gave small feminine but systematic grunts, her eyes wild as she pushed from her odd angle.

Fuck, it was all so good. Her hands roamed over her, kissing up and down Chloe's neck, kissing her parted and gasping lips.

"Scoot forward," Beca said into her ear, unable to look away from the view over Chloe's shoulder, unable to stop watching the way that Chloe's body moved, unable to stop seeing the look on Aubrey's face.

Chloe's nodded but didn't seem to really hear as she moved against Aubrey, both hands tangled in Beca's hair now, pulling and yanking in a way that was painful but that somehow Beca didn't mind at all. She carefully grabbed Chloe's hips, just holding them for a minute because she liked their motion before she shoved, scooting Chloe up to Aubrey's waist. Chloe toppled forward for a moment, kissing up and down Aubrey's neck and giving Beca a view she was pretty sure she would never forget.

Fuck.

…. _fuck_.

She wasn't sure if she was allowed, she wasn't sure how Aubrey would react, especially after earlier but she had started something and she desperately wanted to finish it. Still she spent a moment kissing down Chloe's spine, her hands rough against the softness of Chloe's breasts before she moved, kissing Aubrey's side. She kissed her way up as far as she could reach, wishing she could reach Aubrey's face. Aubrey seemed to feel the same way because she leaned far over, making all of their movements awkward for a second as her tongue swiped across Beca's. Her fingers caught the waistband of Aubrey's shorts and gave a small tug. "Bree?"

Aubrey fell backward again, leaning to kiss up Chloe's skin before she settled back into the pillows, her wild eyes on Beca. For just a moment fear flashed across her face, honest and sharp but then she gave a nod.

It wasn't easy to be slow or gentle with the way that Chloe was keening, and the way those sounds were making her feel. She did her best, leaned over, letting her lips trail across Chloe's thigh before she carefully began to pull the shorts down, kissing her hip, her thigh, her calf, her ankle. "God, you're both, you're both so beautiful," she mumbled, her mouth gently sucking the tender spot beside Aubrey's ankle. She was nodding a bit mechanically as her lips moved back up Aubrey's thigh, wanting to lean in and kiss the blonde curls, wanting to be able to touch both of them, all of them at once. Instead she paused and very softly, reverently kissed the spot she had already bruised.

"Bec." Chloe reached behind her, grabbing her free hand and trying to pull her back to her, wanting her body against her and so Beca obliged, taking a moment to work over the crook of Chloe's neck. "Oh shit," she hissed as Chloe pushed her way under her shorts and cupped her, pulling her in tighter. Her eyes squeezed closed, feeling Aubrey's thigh come up to press into her, feeling it support Chloe's hand.

"Come here," Chloe whimpered, fumbling for a moment before she was able to shallowly push inside of her.

"Shi - shit," Beca groaned, grinding down on both Chloe's fingers and Aubrey's thigh as her fingers reached and lazily rolled over Aubrey.

Aubrey gave a yelp, her whole body stilling for a moment before she whimpered, her thigh pressing harder.

It wasn't enough, Beca realized. Aubrey's thigh couldn't quite press enough with Chloe atop of her and Chloe could reach her well enough. She took a moment to mourn that and then, with a growl, she pushed them away. Instead she focused elsewhere, gently circling Aubrey once, smirking when Aubrey's hips chased her hand. Slowly, letting Aubrey adjust, she slid in, peppering kissing across Chloe's back, her other hand firmly on the thigh below her, wanting to touch Aubrey in some careful way.

"Oh shit," Aubrey cried as Beca slowly retracted and then pressed back in.

"Bree, don't stop!" Chloe cried making Beca smirk all over again.

And then they were moving, the three of them together, swallowing one another's sounds. Chloe's fingers fumbled, reaching behind her, doing her best to touch Beca, swearing when she couldn't reach, when she couldn't maintain contact.

"Is this okay?" Beca asked, her lips barely disconnecting from Chloe's throat.

Both nodded fast, their eyes closed as their bodies bucked against the other, Aubrey into Beca and Chloe into Aubrey.

"Oh shit, is she-" Chloe used her whole palm to push her hair out of her face, her brilliant blue eyes barely focusing on Beca's face beside her. "Are you-"

Beca nodded, sloppily kissing as she whispered in Chloe's ears, "I'm inside of Aubrey." She had no idea where these things she was saying were coming from but fuck, she needed to keep them coming.

"What?" Chloe moaned, almost as though she couldn't understand, couldn't make out her words but her hips bared down. "Fuck! Oh shit, oh, oh shit, Bree!"

She could feel Chloe's body beginning to shudder and in turn Beca moved, her touched precise, careful as she watched their faces.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh Christ," Chloe swore, doubling over to kiss Aubrey and it was exactly what Beca needed. She pushed Chloe down, a hand on her back so she wouldn't sit up and, buried herself as much as she could, pushing and twisting, finally tasting Aubrey as she had wanted to since before the phone call. Aubrey's hips bucked against her as Beca's tongue pressed and a muffled rough moan floated between Chloe and Aubrey's lips.

Chloe was moving in a frenzy, her body jerking, her face buried in Aubrey's throat as Beca moved to kiss every part of her she could reach, sucking, biting, only to suck and bite across Chloe's ass and thighs.

Her body had never ached like this, never begged quite as loudly or as hard as it was doing now. Her nerves thrummed and throbbed, making her dizzy.

Chloe's body suddenly shifted, moving out of sync and wild as she began to shake, giving an animalistic keen of their names, swearing more that Beca had ever heard her do.

Beca swore as well, was sure she was swearing as she bore down, focusing entirely. She could hear them kissing, could hear Chloe whisper, "Come for us, baby. Please. I'm so close."

Aubrey's hips shuddered and jerked, her free hand closing tightly around Beca's, lacing together and squeezing until it hurt. Beca could feel her restraint, could hear the way she muffled her own sounds, tried to keep herself from moving under Chloe too much.

"Bree," she hissed, leaning around Chloe so she could see her, "Bree, _let go_."

Beca carefully curled her fingers and Aubrey's shoulders pushed her off the bed, her mouth open as her body arched.

"Let go." She said again and Aubrey nodded, sounds pouring out of her, her hand clenching so tightly on Beca's that she whimpered, bringing it to her mouth to kiss before she pushed, twisting, her thumb slowly massaging in circles.

It was like Aubrey exploded. All at once her sounds tripled, her body twitching this way at that as Beca moved, her forehead against Chloe's side as she watched, as Aubrey's feet pushed uselessly against the sheets. Chloe moaned, long a deep, holding Aubrey's hand in place, moving against it fast and hot as she shook.

Aubrey jerked once, twice out of sync with Chloe and then her whole body went stiff.

Beca heard a string of expletives and for a moment wasn't sure who it was before she realized that she was swearing, one long line of swear words as she watched both Aubrey and Chloe orgasm.

It seemed like forever before Aubrey's hips finally fell back against the bed and Chloe slumped over, half falling off of Bree.

"Jesus, guys," Beca groaned, her head too fuzzy to think. All she knew was she wanted more. Pushing Chloe's thigh out of the way she leaned down and carefully ran her tongue over Aubrey, moaning at the taste. She heard Chloe give a very satisfied little hum at whatever was happening on Aubrey's face as carefully and pointedly she licked Aubrey clean.

"Bec," Chloe began to pull her up, pull her to her, "I want to taste."

Shit. It was so simple and yet as Beca crashed into her she felt her body tighten, already pounding, already too tightly wound, the pressure in her belly unbearable. Fuck, she just wanted one of them to touch her. She whimpered, ready to beg if she needed to.

Aubrey gave a pull and Beca toppled, laughing as she fell into Aubrey's free shoulder.

"That was amazing," Chloe moaned as Aubrey's tongue took over Beca's mouth, slipping inside, stroking her in a way that had Beca groaning, her mind drifting from her body.

"Sweetie," Chloe purred, her teeth brushing Aubrey's shoulder as Aubrey's lips moved to Beca's breasts. Shit, it was _so good_ , Aubrey's mouth felt so fucking good. "Let's take them off." Chloe pulled a little and Beca's shorts were gone. She wasn't even sure if she had taken them off, if Chloe had or if they had just dematerialized. She had no way of knowing because the moment that they were gone Aubrey sank into her easily in a way that made Beca's mind spin.

"Beca," Aubrey purred, her long fingers sliding with a slowness and a casual ease that had Beca biting the arm propped beside her face, unsure if it was Chloe's or Aubrey's. It didn't really matter.

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" Beca cried, wanting to laugh at the intensity of the sensation as Aubrey retracted and sank fully into her and Chloe almost lazily reached down and circled her, pressing as though she knew exactly what to do.

She knew she was a little worked up, she knew that watching both of them come one literally right on top of one another had been a religious experience but still she was almost embarrassed when she felt Chloe press for the second time and she realized that there would be literally no stopping herself.

Her eyes popped open and saw Aubrey propped over her, Chloe leaning across her side, both with eyes trained fully on her. She was going to break Aubrey's record. She was fucking going to - In that exact moment Aubrey gave a harsh twist and Beca was swearing, her vision blurring a bit as she came with an almost humiliating harshness under their eyes, her whole body moving.

It had been maybe a minute of being touched and yet, she swore, her eyes tearing with the strength of the fire ripping through her, gripping her.

She fell back a few moments later, hearing Aubrey panting in her ear, feeling Chloe's fingers stroking her cheek and she blushed, hiding behind her hands.

"You poor thing," Chloe thickly twanged. "You were so worked up."

"Shut up."

"That was _so_ good."

"Oh my god, shut up!"

"And so fast," Aubrey added, her tongue tracing Beca's ear. "I don't know if I feel so bad anymore."

"Shutup,shutup,shutup!"

Aubrey just purred, her fingers walking up Beca's ribs as she and Chloe kissed.

"Wait!" Chloe suddenly cried.

"STOP SAYING WAIT!" Beca roared, pressing her face into Aubrey's neck, refusing to wait for anything at this point.

"Are you kidding me?" Chloe's face had fallen open with a look of sheer joy and total shock as she shoved Aubrey over, onto her back.

"What's wrong?"

Groaning, Chloe suddenly yanked Aubrey up so she was sitting again and ripped off her shirt and the bra that Beca hadn't realized Aubrey was still wearing.

"Shit. You're _kidding!_ " Beca moaned, rolling over and staring in shock.

"Oh my god, Bree! I would never have guessed!"

Beca looked up at Aubrey, her eyebrows high.

Aubrey bit her lip, worry on her face, "Is that bad?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Beca laughed, kissing her way down her chest fast and taking one of the barbell pierced nipples into her mouth. "You're always full of surprises, Bree." But Aubrey, it seemed couldn't answer. She was too busy arching her back as either of them gently ran their tongues across the metal.

Bree had her fucking nipples pierced? She literally would have understood a missile launch more than she could wrap her head around this.

"Oh my god, Bree, that's so hot." Chloe moaned, making Beca laugh. "No wonder your bra was so padded."

She literally would never have put money on Aubrey having her nipples pierced. Like. Ever. "How did we not know this?"

"I-" Aubrey tried and moaned instead as Beca ran the tip of her tongue between the two little balls, over the center of Aubrey's nipple. "I - wear a lot of - ahh, yes, of padded bras."

Chloe chuckled, kissing her way down Aubrey's ribs, her stomach.

"When did you get it done?" Beca asked, liking the struggle that Aubrey put into talking despite the fact that her face was flushed, her hand was in her own hair and her hips were starting to move again as she put more power into her sucking.

"I-I-" but then Aubrey let out a long moan and just shook her head.

"Oh fuck," Beca looked back and she didn't need to see Chloe's lips to know she was grinning as she ran her tongue over Aubrey. "Fuck." That was - literally - the hottest thing she had ever seen. Chloe gave a little moan, her hands gently holding Aubrey's thighs in place and Beca couldn't help herself as she all but drooled.

She watched, sometimes kissing, sometimes sucking as Chloe worked, forcing any relief Beca had just gotten to the wayside as her body began to thrum unable to look at from Chloe who was watching _her_ like a hawk as she slipped a hand between her own thighs, giving Aubrey a powerful suck that had Aubrey reaching down and clutching at Chloe's hair.

She wanted to be that hand and with a start, she realized she could be that hand. She scrambled, not minding in the fucking slightest when Chloe chuckled, liking the way that when she pulled Chloe's hips up, she suddenly stopped laughing.

"Holy shit." She studied the two of them for a moment, Aubrey's long body rolling, Chloe's mouth moving. Her hands slid down Chloe's spine, wanting to kiss every inch of her, wanting to kiss every inch of them. Instead she felt Chloe grip her by the thigh and so she didn't waste any time and she wasn't as gentle as she had been with Aubrey.

"Oh god, oh shit, oh -" Chloe suddenly moaned as Beca moved fast, doing her best to make it as hard as possible for Chloe to do anything but press her forehead to Aubrey's thigh and cry out.

"Chlo. Aubrey is waiting," she smirked, on top of the world as Chloe laughed, letting Aubrey lead her back to where she wanted her.

God, she wished she had a strap on. This was going to be her new favorite, she was sure of it as she watched both women twitching. She went on with a punishing rhythm, her excess and tightly quelled energy making her slightly merciless.

"If you - don't - stop - slow - down - I'm not - going to be - able to-" Chloe groaned with Beca's stokes, moaning when Aubrey pulled her right back to her, begging her not to stop.

She could feel Chloe was close, she could feel her tensed around her, could see the uncoordinated way she was moving through, into, over Aubrey and Beca loved it.

"Are you close?"

Chloe's mop of hair nodded, her fingers digging into Aubrey's thighs.

"Bree?"

Aubrey nodded, her fingers tightening in Chloe's hair, pulling her in closer and making Chloe shriek with delighted pain.

Watching Aubrey like this, watching as she tipped over her edge and then Chloe followed right after her was something Beca couldn't believe. She hissed as Chloe bared down on Aubrey, her hands flexing on her thighs as Aubrey's hips pushed up into her. Beca groaned, her mouth dry as she finally, happily, flopped over across Chloe's back and yelped as Chloe fell over as well, scooting up so her face was buried in Aubrey's stomach.

"I can't even." Chloe laughed. "I just literally can't, y'all. That was so much fun."

Aubrey chuckled, her fingers softly caressing the side of one face and then the other with gentle affection.

Chloe started to laugh, which made Aubrey and though she wasn't even sure what they were laughing about she began to laugh too, her face burying into Aubrey's side as she tried to readjust her hips over Chloe. Fuck, she was so tired.

"Are we all good?" She asked them, not really bothering to specify who she was talking to, "Everyone okay?"

She felt more than heard them each nod, their breath still fast in their lungs and god damn it, if it wasn't the sexiest sound she had ever heard.

Chloe sighed, her eyes closed as she reached for Beca's hands and kissed her fingers before kissing the stomach she was laying on.

"I'm so happy we're doing this." Aubrey said in a quiet voice.

Beca smiled, exhausted and cuddled in a little deeper, holding some part of both of them.

They all fell silent for a bit, not quite sleepy but definitely exhausted.

"I'm hungry," Chloe announced suddenly enough to make Beca jerk, realizing despite the fact that she was lying with her hips still across Chloe's lower back, her face planted against Aubrey's rib, she had started to doze.

"Do you want something to eat?" Aubrey asked, her thumb still stroking across their cheeks.

"Mmm. Yes."

"Can't." Beca shook her head a little, "Not moving."

"But I'm hungry!"

Beca grumbled, knowing that Chloe was enjoying her grumpiness.

"Fine!" Chloe gave her a fake glare, "Then you stay here. Bree is going to make me a sandwich and she's going to be naked and you will miss out on all of that, I'm afraid."

"Oh yeah," Bree smirked, pushing a little bit of Chloe's hair back. "Bree is going to do all of that, huh?"

"Yup." Chloe nodded, her cheerfulness a little overboard in this post-coital state. "Bree, I still can't believe you have nipple rings."

Aubrey went to make a comment, snark clear on her face but gave up immediately when Beca, body still on edge leaned forward and took one into her mouth again, just because she could.

"What made you get them?" Chloe asked when Aubrey's gasp had smoothed.

"I got them in college," Aubrey said, her eyebrow high as Beca just smiled at her all innocent and cuteness. "And I wasn't entirely sober. I think I just wanted to do something for myself. It was something that I could think about when my father was telling me what to do that could make me feel proud of myself."

"Prove that you're an individual," Beca added in a question and Aubrey nodded, her face kind as she smiled down at Beca.

"I understand that though, Bree." Chloe nodded, carefully kissing one of the curved barbells. "Not every rebellion needs to be loud and flashy. Sometimes simply knowing that you did something for yourself because you wanted to is enough. 'Caring for oneself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.'"

"Who said that?"

"Audre Lorde. I think it's perfect for you, Bree."

"Mmm," Aubrey just smiled as Chloe leaned forward and kissed her.

"And I think they're sexy. Come on!"

It took them a few minutes to get up and then another to pull shirts on over their tired bodies; an act which Chloe protested.

They padded their way into the kitchen despite the fact that it was closer to sun up rather than sundown and sipped from mugs of tea and ate slices of fruit and nuts, their eyes constantly roving, their hands casually grazing over a bare ass or down a back now and then.

"Was that okay?"

Beca frowned, watching a little confused as Chloe leaned heavily into Aubrey, her pink lips still damp from the slice of apple she had just fed her.

"Hmm?" Aubrey asked, only seeming to be half with her, the rest of her mind drifting through the clouds.

"The sex. Was it okay, Bree? Did you come hard enough?"

Aubrey's eyes popped and she looked like she was choking.

"And Bec, you didn't come _enough_ , did you?"

Chloe was frowning, her finger tracing Aubrey's throat, her face all at once panicked. "I'm sorry, Beca was - I don't think I did as good of a job for you when Beca was doing that to me as when she was doing that to you and you were touching me."

Beca cleared her throat, feeling awkward. From where she had stood, it seemed like Aubrey had enjoyed herself.

Chloe had looked to her as she had cleared her throat, but now she turned back to Aubrey, obviously worried, her fingertips working their way under Aubrey's shirt despite the stress that was squeezing her eyebrows together. "Bree? _Did_ you come hard enough? I'm sorry if it wasn't very good. It's harder than I thought with tw-"

"No!" Aubrey finally spoke and Beca was glad. "Chloe, it was, it was good."

"Seemed like she was having fun to me," Beca added. "Seemed like you _both_ were having fun."

Chloe nodded and turned to Beca, her hand not leaving Aubrey's skin but snaking Beca in for a kiss. "I let you fall to the wayside, Bec. I think you need to come again."

The thing she needed was for Chloe to stop saying the word 'come'. It was killing her.

"Um."

Chloe was nodding, her eyes still stressed as she leaned in to kiss Beca's throat. "I think that needs to happen now."

"I mean," she frowned. She wasn't going to complain or anything but she also didn't really feel gypped like Chloe seemed to think.

"Come on."

Though they all were yawning they didn't go to sleep like they were supposed to at this late of an hour. Instead their fingers meandered lazily, somewhat tentative at first as they chatted and then more purposely as Chloe insisted that she had something to make up for or to prove. This time they wandered, taking their time as their touches remained languid, the desperation of the first time melting into curiosity.

It wasn't until the sun was beginning to rise that Beca, worn out and exhausted, finally fell asleep, her arms curled around Chloe and Aubrey's arms around her.

* * *

Okay guys! I know everyone is always a little hesitant to review love scenes BUT if you would be so kind, let me know how I did. This was my first written poly scene and I was worried about it. Questions, comments, confusions? Any notes? Thanks guys!


	17. Chapter 17

_**Aubrey**_

* * *

If she had been asked the day before Aubrey would have said that maybe she was _a little_ nervous about the plans she had with Chloe and Beca. Not the date, well, she had been nervous about the date too, but the sex. _'Threesomes'_ , as she was loathed to call them, had a stigma. They were supposed to be bad or awkward or weird, or any combination and variation of the above. Sex with _one_ person could be awkward or weird so throwing in another person was bound to be bad. A lot, if not most, of her research had backed this idea up. She had found forum thread after forum thread of people complaining, swearing their threesome experience was a bust, that it had been an unhappy mix of trying to figure out whose leg went where, trying to make sure everyone felt included and, more often than not, being excluded yourself. She had read of premature ejaculation with that much stimuli, something she had done herself, she had read of jealousy and of people growing bored, being sexually dissatisfied or of peacocking fights starting when two people wanted to be the one to satisfy the third.

The general idea, according to the internet, was that threesomes were better left to times of drunken stupor and, even more recommended, left alone entirely.

Which had frustrated Aubrey because sex with Beca and Chloe was not just a _threesome_. Aubrey had asked them not to call it that for a reason. They were a _triad_ now, and yes, the three of them had slept together the night before but it was not the same as a simple threesome. They were more than that. This was not college experimentation, this was not a married couple looking to reheat their sex life, and they were not Cathouse where they were going to fulfill some lifelong fantasy.

She had done her best to find information on sex tips for a Triad and had found very little. As a matter of fact, the only information she had found was what she had already passed on and it had all been based in couples that had two women and a man. It had been so disheartening to find that she had not been able to find tips for a relationship like theirs. It had also been nerve-wracking. Did the world of Polyamory really not exist for relationships without a ding-a-ling?

So she had been nervous.

Only, it _hadn't_ been bad.

At all.

Well. Mostly.

She had been so overwhelmed by Beca and Chloe, by their beauty, by their faces as they touched her. She had been so overwhelmed by the fact that they wanted her, by the way their hands had felt, how soft they were, how kind. The last person to touch her had been Dolton in the backseat of his car. His hands had been so rough, his face so scratchy, his penis an ever awkward and poking presence that had filled her without any satisfaction. She had slept with him because she was supposed to, because women were something she didn't allow herself, not since her mother had caught her in college with a Private First Class. That had always been fine. She didn't need to date, she had always been content to see men when her parents noticed their absence and to focus on her work. That was why when she had begun to touch Chloe, when she had heard her sounds, when she had felt Beca's mouth so close to her, and she had known they wanted her, cared about her, it had only taken one gentle kiss to the _outside of her panties_ before she had reached her – _conclusion._ It had been humiliating.

Then her brother had called and she had been happy for the excuse to leave.

Her night after that had been bad, maybe even horrible. Chad was – terrible, and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it, about the moment when she had realized that there was no turning back, where even if she had been able to force herself to her feet, to make their touches stop, she still wouldn't have been able to control it. She hadn't been able to stop seeing Chloe's look of surprise. It hadn't been a particularly strong or good orgasm, she had simply been overstimulated. And then Chad had been his usual terrible self, making choices that he shouldn't.

She had gone home and - being with Beca and Chloe had not been bad.

Actually. It had been _good_ to start, awesome halfway through, and then reaching all new heights by the time the sun was up. It had been so good that it had made her pity the people out there who were not having sex like that, made her hope they could find something as fucking great as this. It made her wonder why she hadn't thought of this for the three of them sooner. It had made her feel sorry for the version of herself, the version that she had only just moved on from, that did not date women. It had made her feel something deep in the pit of herself, something she would never voice but instead would hold on to, would cherish in the deepest parts of herself; something that she would whisper into her pillow after they were asleep and would find the warmth of it was enough to settle her nerves and send her into a blissful sleep between them.

The night had been intimate and fun and satisfying - and hot; it had been very hot.

They had been insatiable, led mostly by the fact that Chloe was like the Energizer bunny and as each orgasm seemed to hit her harder it also seemed to invigorate her more.

She and Beca had literally been forced to pin Chloe down under them to finally sleep; which was saying something because they hadn't exactly been slacking in the energy department either.

That hadn't happened, though, until around seven in the morning so she knew, without seeing the time, that she had not had enough sleep when she felt lips carefully begin to move down her spine. She knew that there was no way she could get enough sleep today. She would be tired for work the next morning and probably for a few days after that.

She was yawning before she even opened her eyes, her skin tingling as she felt the trail of hair running down her back. "Mmmm," she hummed, enjoying the feeling of the lips on her.

She had struggled a bit the night before. It had been awe-inspiring, amazing, awesome to see Chloe on top of her that way, to feel her naked body against hers. Still, when she had felt Beca beginning to remove her shorts, she had been nervous. It had taken her a minute, and a few well-spoken reassurances before she had been able to feel comfortable enough. Now she felt a little like someone who had been starving and only given a snack.

Her breath caught as the lips trailed over her sensitive ribs, making her hands ball into the pillows.

"This is the best way to wake up," Chloe hummed, as Beca peppered kisses across the dimples of Aubrey's lower back.

"Beca," Aubrey breathed as she let the feeling wash over her, "it had better be at least noon. Some of us have to work tomorrow."

"All of us have to work tomorrow, Bree."

"Yes," Aubrey scoffed out a laugh, "I guess you're right."

She heard a small chuckle from beside her and felt a finger begin to draw large and strangely seductive circles across her skin. "It's one minute after noon," Chloe promised.

Finally she opened her groggy eyes and looked up at Chloe who was propped up beside her on her elbow. "Hello."

"Hi." Chloe bit her own grin, her head tilting to watch as Beca's mouth clamped softly down on the curve of Aubrey's thigh. It both maddeningly tickled as well as sent harsh shivers down her spine, pulling in her lower belly. It was a feeling she still wasn't quite accustomed to, making her squirm and writhe, her mouth falling open as she tried to bat Beca's head away.

"Don't ruin the show," Chloe chided, gently holding her hand to her bare chest.

Aubrey just laughed a little, as much as she could anyway as Beca's mouth moved down her leg. "That tickles!" she cried, moaning out her displeasure, "Stop! Stop! Oh my god, ahhh!" Finally in the face of Beca and Chloe's giggles she gave up the fight and let her face fall back to the pillows where her breath caught in her chest as Beca moved back up again, kissing the inside of her thighs.

"What's wrong, my little pillow queen?" Chloe teased between kisses.

" _Excuse me!_ " Aubrey shot, pushing herself up, ready to do something to make that title feel a little less true than it did at that moment when she was literally lying with her face pushed into the pillows. She let out a squeak, trying to fight but instead Chloe caught her in a kiss, instantly burning her from the inside out as Beca pushed forward a bit and, her teasing done as her tongue made contact with her, making Aubrey gasp and shudder.

She wasn't entirely sure she really had more of this in her just then. Her energy meter was hovering around empty without sleep or food but when Chloe rolled her to her back, her hands cupping her breasts as Beca's mouth closed on her, giving her slightly sore bundle a soft suck, Aubrey decided - she could find the energy.

" _Fuck_ ," Aubrey groaned as Beca's fingers tickled up her sides, doing things with her mouth that made Aubrey's jaw work on nothing, strange animal noises coming out of her without her permission. Her hand came up to her face to hide the stupid look she knew she must be making. She had always been someone who wanted to look beautiful during sex, that had always been very important to her but she wasn't sure she could manage it. Her face flushed red as a tomato, her body twitched, the muscles in her legs stood out which was intimidating when in bed with such beautiful women.

Chloe chuckled again, close to her ear, "I'm working on it." The words, so possessive despite the fact that it was Beca who was carefully pulling her apart at the seams, were like wine, shooting straight to where she could feel them. She let out a groan, not minding at all when Chloe took advantage of her parted lips for another kiss.

She tried hard to remain slightly dignified, one woman licking and sucking while the other watched from a close distance, her fingers tickling over Aubrey's nipples, flicking the metal almost playfully. She really was trying but instead she felt her shoulders constantly pressing her off the bed, her breath fast, her hands balling in her hair, half laughing with Chloe about the show she knew she was unwillingly putting on and half whimpering.

They, as a trio, were _apparently_ as compatible in this way as they had been in other ways and Aubrey loved that. She was finding that she loved this. Even when they ganged up on her like this - or maybe especially when they did.

"Your face is very serious, Bree." Chloe murmured.

"What?" she gasped, perplexed by this out-of-left-field statement.

"Are you alright?"

"Am I, _ahh_ , alright?" she repeated, trying to get the words to sink in. Was she alright? She didn't understand the question. She felt a roll, a specifically roll perfect and her mind spun, pushing her a little closer and making her whimper out Beca's name.

"Chlo," Beca chided, making Aubrey sob at the loss of her, "don't make fun of her right now."

Chloe cooed, kissing her face lightly in a way that made Aubrey want to shove her away and pull her closer. It was kind of a moot point though since she was pretty sure she couldn't do anything at this moment but writhe as each touch swirled her mind, running through her body like warm fire.

She heard Chloe call Beca's name and she whimpered once again as Beca moved, scooting her way up her body and kissing Chloe deeply.

"Mmm," Chloe pulled away, licking her lips.

"We should make breakfast," Beca said, checking the clock beside them and ignoring Aubrey's dry sob.

"I think so," Chloe agreed, nodding.

"What? No! No, we-"

Beca's fingers sank through her, running over her and then into her and Aubrey realized they were just teasing. She hissed, swearing and, without much thought, caught Beca in a kiss her arms wrapping around her, holding her to her as her hips moved with her, cantering to Beca's pace while Chloe kissed her.

"Oh god," Aubrey gasped. Her head came up off the pillow, curling to her chin as she began to shake. " _I_ \- shit -" She glanced at Beca, her hands aching to touch someone, and saw that Beca was looking at Chloe. She was staring back at her boldly, her mouth open, the movement of her fingers against herself making the sheet twitch ever so slightly.

"Oh snapdragon," Aubrey moaned, feeling her body hitch, rising as Beca moaned, her mouth closing on Aubrey's breasts, her movements within her becoming faster, sharper. Aubrey couldn't sit still. She was dizzy as she felt Chloe's forehead settle on her, felt her breathing across one cheek while Beca peppered kisses across the other.

This was amazing. If there was anything that could convince her that this was the right choice then it was this.

She felt fingers pull her out of the kiss she was being given from Beca and then Chloe was there, holding her by the chin, not letting her move as she kissed her with all of the authoritative fierceness of the first time they had kissed outside of that antique shop.

The sounds she was making into Chloe's mouth weren't exactly legible anymore but it didn't matter as their lips brushed more than kissed, rubbing against the other in their disordered way.

Beca made a high sound in her chest, a whine and they both turned reaching to kiss her at the same time. Their lips brushed, not exactly on the mark but close enough and each, in turn, made a small noise of surprise. It was too much for Aubrey, the way that Beca's movements sharpened for a moment, the way that her body sank into her; her whole body froze as her orgasm hit hard and beside her she felt Chloe do the same.

It was a very long few seconds before she fell back to the bed, her body exhausted all over again as Beca cuddled in, her cheek against Aubrey's shoulder, their breathing matching pace.

"Oh _wow_ ," Aubrey sighed, her head heavy.

They heard Chloe giggle a bit and Aubrey felt Beca's smile stretch wide against her as she turned her head to nuzzle into her throat.

Chloe licked her lips. Her face suddenly dropped like a stone, mortified and alarming Aubrey. "Oh my god, Beca, I'm sorry!"

"For what?"

Chloe shrugged; something that was so unChloe like that Beca's head came off of her shoulder, her eyebrows high. "I shouldn't have done that."

"What?" Beca gaped.

"I don't know, I should have taken care of _you_. That was selfish of me."

"Chlo! That's not something to apologize for!" Chloe's bright blue eyes blinked slowly, her face a little too pink. "Stop apologizing for stuff like that. That was awesome."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, dude!" Beca rolled her eyes, pulling Chloe up for a kiss.

"I feel that I should point out that I'm not complaining here either."

Chloe bit her lip, an embarrassed smile on her face, "Okay."

It took them another hour and a half to actually get up, much like they had the night before, in tossed on shirts and shorts, unsure of which was supposed to be whose and made their way into the kitchen.

She and Beca followed Chloe, Aubrey admiring the way the shorts cut off at the back of Chloe's thighs. She had nice legs, which didn't really surprise her since she knew that Chloe walked everywhere, usually in heels. Absently she wondered if Chloe liked to go to the gym and if so what exactly would she do there. Would she be an elliptical girl or would she be a runner like herself? Maybe she was one of those that would do the clas- Aubrey let out a guilty yip when she felt someone poking her in the ribs.

Beca was following next to her, her finger still out and her eyebrows high.

Aubrey spluttered for a moment, her cheeks going from warm to hot to blazing.

"What happened?" Chloe asked over her shoulder, reaching to the top cupboard for the coffee grounds.

"What?" Aubrey yelped, distracted again as Chloe had to reach up tall on her toes for a moment, making all of the muscles in her legs stand out. She jumped, catching herself this time. Her mouth popped open to speak, make a joke or maybe even to make a comment about how much she liked her thighs when the newness of the situation overwhelmed her, making her suddenly shy. She glanced back at Beca, her heart fluttering in embarrassed pleasure and found that neither could hold their gazes without their cheeks growing warmer. They had stepped out of the bubble of the bedroom and for a moment they were shy. Aubrey glanced back at Chloe and saw that she too looked pleased, happy that she had been getting checked out but also just a touch bashful.

She loved this feeling, loved the newness.

Beca gave a dry laugh from beside her, "So." She said to break the nervous and yet somewhat excited tension. "How did it go last night? You uh, you never told us what the hell happened."

The little smile that had been on Aubrey's face dropped, her forehead wrinkling as she frowned, "I had forgotten about that." Her eyebrows drew together a bit more as she distractedly took the grounds and scooped the coffee into the maker. She really wished that Beca had asked anything else, anything else at all.

"Oh," Beca shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry, I didn't,"

"No, it's okay, Beca. I - it was just nice to forget for a few moments." She squirmed a little and confessed, "You guys made me forget." She glanced between Beca and Chloe, down at their bare legs and blushed a little.

"So, what happened?" Chloe asked, sneaking a quick kiss to Beca's cheek before settling against the counter beside her, only glancing out of the corner of her eye at her once.

Aubrey sighed heavily, closing the lid of the maker and pressing the button carefully, precisely. She still wasn't completely sure she had the answer to that question. She didn't know how things were going to resolve but she doubted it would be easy or clean. "From what I understand, Chad made a mistake." She shook her head, picking up the rag beside the sink and carefully wiping at a spot on the marble, "I think what happened was he wrote the wrong rafter decoration on the original paperwork for one of his clients but it's hard to be sure."

"Okay." Beca nodded and Aubrey felt her watching as she moved on to the rest of the counter, carefully moving the display of spices and the fruit bowl in order to wipe under it before reaching for the Mrs. Meyers and doing it again, properly this time. She didn't miss when Beca glanced at Chloe with a crinkle of worry to her eyebrows and she couldn't help but to resent the judgment a little. "The hard thing in this situation is that it's one person's word against the other and neither feel very trustworthy. If Chad wrote the wrong information on the original order then it's either that the client, for his part, did not read the contract or maybe just did not notice the mistake." Aubrey's lips pressed into a thin line, "Or he is lying about what he originally requested. Or _Chad_ is lying."

"Which do you think it is?" Chloe asked, her arms crossing, her head tilting to the side.

"I mean, Chad, right?" Beca added, "What are the odds that _Chad isn't_ the one lying?"

"Beca's right, he's always lying to you, Bree."

"I know." Aubrey nodded, wringing out the rag and laying it carefully over the sink faucet to dry. "That was my thought too but in this situation, I feel like I can't say. Chad insists that he didn't write the wrong thing down and that it doesn't matter either way because the client signed the contract with the information as it was. Which is true. That is the stance our lawyer is advising we take anyway."

"Wait, lawyer?"

Aubrey nodded fast, picking up the rag again and wiping at a spot when her hands felt too empty.

Beca and Chloe's eyebrows were high as they seemed to finally understand the kind of night that Aubrey had.

"What I was told was that the client was out of town which," Aubrey scowled, "I really wish people wouldn't do that. Anyway, he came home last night and called Chad. From what I understand Chad was confused and so asked him to go for drinks. I think."

"Right. Like anyone would logically do with an angry client." Beca sarcastically rolled her eyes. "Though, I guess that does sound like the stupid kind of thing your stupid brother would do."

"Yes, exactly. He should have called me, or at the very least agreed to meet at the office the next morning."

"Ten bucks says he didn't want to lose his Sunday morning though."

Chloe scowled at Beca's words.

It was always strange watching Chloe hate Chad. Chloe disliked people, sure, but she had a superhuman ability to tolerate even the most annoying person. That showed just how terrible she thought Chad was, something that both impressed and scared her. She knew her brother was bad, but seeing someone else angry on her behalf was shocking.

Aubrey gave a shaky laugh, "You know my brother so well."

Beca shrugged, "Call it a general understanding of apathy. So how did it get to the point of calling you? And fucking _lawyers_? Jesus."

"Well,"

"Okay, come here." Beca suddenly said before Aubrey could speak. She looked down and realized that she had picked up the sponge and had begun to scour the inside of the sink.

"Oh." She felt her cheeks go red and she washed it out quickly, dried her hands and let Beca take them, pleased when, still looking a little shy, Beca kissed them.

"So what happened?" She asked, pulling her between them so that they were pressed close on either side of her.

That helped a little, feeling them so close on either side of her was helpful, calming. "From what I understand," Aubrey ran a palm smoothly, fastidiously over her hair, "they both got very drunk and began to fight. Chad called our _lawyer_ when the client refused to back down which meant that the client called his. It was, ugh, it was a mess."

"Why were you gone for so long?"

Aubrey gave a nod that wasn't entirely necessary, her anxiety building as she thought about her apprehension of having to face them again the night before. "Well our lawyer was going to bill us for the time anyway,"

Beca nodded back, understanding, "Might as well take care of it then instead of putting it off. When did you get home? Err, back - here?"

Aubrey was having a hard time simply standing and talking, something she hated. She tried to ignore the anxiety that was rushing through her, tried to ignore it as it pooled in her stomach, making it slick and tumble. She hated that. She hated that she did that when she was upset. Still, the more her mind went over the advice that she had been given the night before, the more that she thought about what her father would have to say, the sicker she felt. Was there a way to pull away from Beca without being rude and without admitting that perhaps she needed to move while she talked?

She was saved the effort though. Perhaps they could see her discomfort because after a second Chloe's hands came up and gently pulled Beca's hands away from Aubrey's, releasing her.

Aubrey pretended not to notice but she drifted to the coffeemaker and began pouring three cups of coffee, taking care that they were all evenly filled. "I got back," Aubrey almost laughed, "around two." Which brought up a whole other thing, but at least this one, she smiled, this memory was sweet.

"Yikes."

Aubrey looked up, unsure if Beca was referring to the hour or if she was referring to the fact that Aubrey was bent over the cups, obviously dismayed that one cup was accidentally filled more than the others.

"Bree," Chloe said, her arms still crossed tightly, "is there any chance that your father is going to see this? See what your brother did, I mean?"

Aubrey jumped.

"Right," Beca nodded, "Like, going to see it and actually come down on Bumper, err, Chad. Ugh, it bugs the shit out of me that I keep thinking of him as Bumper!"

Aubrey didn't chuckle though, for once too distracted to care about her brother's stupid nickname. "No. I suspect that he will not react – in anyway like I would like hi to. My father will probably tell me that I need to begin looking over all contracts before they are signed and filed."

"What?" They both scoffed.

She had known it from the moment that their lawyer, Josh McLaughlin, had told them. She had seen the way that Chad had looked at her, like this could somehow be her fault and she had known their father would accuse her. She was actually very worried that she hadn't gotten a call yet. The longer it took for the call to come the worse it would be. The thought made her stomach twist into nausea.

"That doesn't even," but Beca stopped, gaping like a fish.

"But then," Aubrey started and then stopped, embarrassed by herself already.

They both waited, letting Aubrey scramble for words.

"Last night I was so upset. My brother is going to run us into the ground, our night had been ruined," Aubrey paused, flashes of Beca under her touch, the early morning sun making her skin glow as she whispered Aubrey's name, of feeling Chloe kiss her face as she lingered inside of her, just to hold on to their connection a moment longer. The thoughts made her blush., "I had – well, you know, my father is going to put even more pressure on me to do a job that he won't just let me do, and I just, ugh." Aubrey ran her hands over her face with a punishing aggression, her stomach swirling tighter.

"Hey," Beca put her hands over hers, "Whoa."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Tell us what's on your mind."

"I," Aubrey's jaw clenched, digging for the words, trying to work past her humiliation.

This side of them had been surprising. She had done so well for so long at keeping herself distant, at keeping herself offish so this new desire was one she hadn't expected. She was finding the closer they got to intimate, and, she supposed, beyond that marker, that she had _wanted_ to be honest with them. She had never been honest with anyone in this way before, not her parents, not her boyfriends or her colleagues. She wasn't raised that way. It was almost relieving to simply tell them how something made her feel or what she wanted. It had started that first night sitting around her dining room table and once the cap had come off she hadn't been able to stop. It felt too good. Still, right now and about this, she was struggling with her honesty level.

"Bree, whatever it is you know that you can tell us," Chloe promised, giving her a soft and encouraging smile.

Aubrey nodded but her fingers began tapping mindlessly on the counter as she said, "I guess I already told you."

"You mean last night?"

"Mmm." She nodded, her fingers playing absently with her bottom lip. "But I didn't tell you that I was mad at you two last night." Beca exchanged a look with Chloe and Aubrey could see they were suddenly nervous. She went on quickly, wishing she had said nothing. "I was upset as it was and then I came home and all the lights were off." A splash of anger rocked through her again as she remembered entering the dark home. She hadn't been able to stop her stupid and premature orgasm and then they had left. She had been sure that she had ruined it. She had been heartbroken and angry that they were gone. She had felt _so alone_. She had stayed in her front doorway for quite a while just thinking about the night, what it could have been, what it meant that they had left. She had been, she shifted, remembering the feeling of defeat. She had been heartbroken. "I thought you two had left."

"Because of the orgasm before you left? Aubrey, we keep telling you that we weren't bothered by that." Chloe sighed, "Just surprised. Plus, Beca was almost that fast that first time too."

"Yeah, and _Chloe_ ," Beca defensively glared, "took like five minutes that last time, remember? Literally. Like five minutes."

Chloe just gave a simper, "I don't feel bad about that. It was good every time."

Aubrey watched them tease, not feeling any better. "I know," she said in a low voice. But I didn't then. And I, I was hurt. I was so mad at you. Then I clicked on the light in here and I couldn't believe it. You guys had stayed."

"Of course we stayed." Chloe smiled and, with only a moment of shy hesitation, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her.

"I just couldn't _believe it_." Aubrey laughed, "You were both there, in my bed, wearing my clothes. It was so -" she shook her head, lost for words. "I liked it." She admitted in a whisper, "I liked having a hard day and then coming home to you two asleep in my bed." She swallowed, looking away for a moment. This was coming very close to her new truth and she didn't think that she could handle that.

Chloe hummed again, her lazy fingers reaching out to brush against Aubrey's cheek with a tenderness that made her swoon.

It was the swoon that made her continue talking without a filter. "It was everything. Something I've never had before."

Beca reached up, tentatively stroking her hair out of her face before, with a pause of hesitation, she leaned over and gently kissed her.

The kiss was soft but Aubrey clung to her like she was afraid that if she let go Beca would disappear. Maybe she would. People didn't care for her like this, not at all.

"Chloe used your toothbrush," Beca muttered against her lips, trying to use that Beca-like humor and Aubrey frowned.

"That's - ew."

"Yeah, I know." She kissed her again and, just wanting to hold her, Aubrey cupped her jaw, once again thankful that she had forced her brother to go on that tour with her that day.

"It's not that weird you know," Chloe mumbled beside them.

Aubrey's kisses were soft, imploring, searching. She didn't know what she was searching for exactly but she felt Beca surrender, wanting to give it to her. She felt Chloe stroking her face and she reached behind Beca, pulling Chloe closer and wishing she had more arms.

Beca's lips parted, surprising Aubrey as she felt her tongue gently roll out, brushing against Aubrey's.

In response Aubrey's hand gently slid under her shirt, flattening on her stomach. "Is that okay?"

Beca nodded, seeming a little flustered that she was asking permission for so gentle a touch.

"I don't want you to feel-"

"Bree," Chloe cut her off, brushing her thumb across her lip, "we want you. Last night _did_ happen, baby."

She liked that. There had only been one person in her life before to give her a pet name that she liked. A lot of the men she had dated over the years had given her nicknames: baby doll, sugar, princess, sugar lips and so on. When you were tall, pretty, and blonde, men just liked to call you those things. She got it everywhere, at the bank, at the store. It had only been Natalie, her secret high school girlfriend who had called her angel and Aubrey had loved it, loved hearing it whispered to her when they were alone.

"You want me." Aubrey parroted back not sure she understood.

She felt Chloe melt at this, felt her want to keep them both warm and safe and loved building. Chloe leaned over and kissed both of their foreheads.

"You know what else we want?"

"What's that?"

"We want that coffee. Do you think we could have it now?"

Aubrey let out a laugh and though it was a little wet, it was real.

The mood lightened considerably after that. Beca put on some music and while they didn't dance exactly, they laughed together as Aubrey cooked, chatting over the day and their plans. She and Chloe wanted to watch a movie and for once Beca didn't argue, admitting that spending a few hours with them on the couch under a warm blanket really didn't sound bad.

They ate and then Chloe and Beca cleaned up, then they settled in the den, Chloe resting against Aubrey and Beca against her. They chose a drama, for Beca's sake, and settled in for the movie.

They didn't get far though.

Thirty minutes in Chloe had already announced that the killer was the uncle, something that Aubrey suspected but wasn't sure of - until Chloe said it. Chloe was always correct. After that she started to watch Beca lose interest. Eventually, as she grew bored Beca's hands began to wander, running up and down Chloe's thigh, over their arms and hands. Both she and Chloe watched Beca, amused but Beca wouldn't look back, doing her best to pretend innocence. She was just watching a movie, after all. That is, until she gave in entirely and scooted down to begin kissing up Chloe's side.

The movie was forgotten pretty quickly after that.

They stayed on the couch, though only because it didn't occur to anyone to move.

"This reminds me of that first night," at one point Aubrey chuckled. She was mildly uncomfortable with this, mildly uncomfortable sitting in Beca's lap, her legs wrapped around Beca's waist entirely. Beca was just so small in comparison to her but Beca _clearly_ didn't mind.

"You mean the night when you attacked my face with your face."

"I prefer to think of it as giving in to her wild side," Chloe grinned with a waggle of her eyebrows.

" _I prefer_ ," Aubrey insisted in a clipped voice, "to think of it as bridging the gap from one type of relationship to another."

Finally, with their stomachs growling and feeling a strong urge to get out of the house and do something, they dressed. Neither Beca nor Chloe had been too enthusiastic about wearing their date dresses out since they were wrinkled and, in Beca's case, dirty, so Aubrey offered them some clothes. Chloe had fit into her things well enough but Beca had looked ridiculous in her jeans. They found her a pair of leggings but Beca hadn't been totally happy about the outfit. 'We slept together for the first fucking time last night and now I look like an idiot', Beca had mumbled to herself as she brushed her hair and it had made Aubrey's heart soar to know that Beca wanted to look good for her, for them. Finally, dressed and wrapped in their jackets, the three started down Aubrey's street on foot.

"Oh my god, Bree, it's freezing!" Chloe cried, wrapping herself tighter in her jacket. "It isn't warm enough for this."

She and Beca, who had both moved from colder climates not all of that long ago, chuckled and chafed her arms, trying to warm her up. "I promise this place is worth it."

"But how far is it?" Chloe all but pouted as they turned the corner and entered the brightly lit Lower Garden District.

"Not far," Aubrey rolled her eyes and kissed the top of Chloe's head.

Aubrey saw the hesitation on Beca's face from the moment she turned them off the sidewalk and up the path to the restaurant. Even she had to admit, the place looked like eating there would give you food poisoning. It was just a house that had been gutted and turned into a restaurant which wasn't so strange for New Orleans, but usually the converted house looked like it was a little better kept up. In truth, Aubrey would never have gone had it not been for a rather annoying client. He had insisted on taking her to his favorite restaurant, no matter how much Aubrey insisted that wasn't necessary.

Still, for their hesitation, both Beca and Chloe followed her.

Then they stepped through the doors and she watched their faces change, watched them smell the air, their scowls turning into looks of pleasure.

"It smells amazing," Chloe beamed.

"You're in for a treat. Three of you?"

For a moment Aubrey blanched. How could she know?

But then Beca smiled and gave the woman a nod and Aubrey understood that she had taken that entirely wrong. That had been stupid of her, even. Why would the host care about her relationship status, whether it held two people, three or seven?

The restaurant was empty except for a couple across the wide room, a huge plate the size of a tire between them. Aubrey specifically asked for a table far from them and then helped to remove Beca and Chloe's coats, giving them a fond smile as she went to the nearby coat rack.

"She's never had Ethiopian," Beca announced, cocking a thumb in Chloe's direction when Aubrey returned.

"How is that possible?" Chloe loved new and exotic things. How had she missed this? Then again, Aubrey had to admit she was a little pleased. She was glad she got to be the one to show it to her. "Well," Aubrey smiled, wanting to reach out and take her hand again. "I think you're going to love it."

Beca gave a snort, "It's messy. Of course she will."

"Oooh, it's messy, huh?" Chloe grinned, shooting Beca a teasingly flirtatious waggle of her eyebrows.

Beca's mouth popped open but she just shook her head and laughed again.

"You'll both like this place," Aubrey nodded, laying her napkin out in her lap.

It turned out that while Beca had a few favorites, she couldn't name any of them nor really describe them so Aubrey decided to order for them, putting in for a mixed plate with a serving size big enough for three. The owner nodded and then left to get their drinks, bringing a basket of injera with it.

"So you eat this with your hands?" Chloe clarified, picking up a roll and ripping a piece off.

"Oh, Chloe, I would wait for-" but Chloe was already chewing. Aubrey tried not to laugh as Chloe's cheerful face folded, her expression all at once worried.

"Oh god. Guys. I think, yeah, I think the bread is bad."

Aubrey hid her laughter behind her hands, not wanting Chloe to think she was laughing _at_ her. "It's supposed to taste like that."

"Um," Chloe's large blue eyes turned on them.

"Think of it as sourdough on hyper drive." Beca added, then saw Chloe's skeptical face and joined Aubrey in her hissing laughter behind her hands. It took a minute of Chloe frowning at them before Beca got out, "Trust me, it's good with the food."

The food came with an amazing quickness and, a little excited to do it, Aubrey piled one of her favorites onto a torn off piece of the bread. "Trust me?"

Chloe frowned, "I don't know."

For a moment Aubrey felt a pang of hurt worry. Really? She didn't trust her enough to try the food? She didn't want her to go hungry! She had to be hungry! Damn it, she should have taken them elsewhere. Why had she brought -

"Kiss me?"

Aubrey let out a snort. With her relieved laugh the swirling thoughts in her mind slowed until they stopped. She had to get better at knowing when they were teasing her.

Or perhaps, a small voice in the back of her mind said, she just needed to trust that perhaps they actually _did_ like her.

She glanced around a bit, her worry about someone seeing them thick for a moment but there was almost no one here, right? Plus, she had the advantage of the fact that Chad would _never_ believe that she was out with two women and so it would never be passed on. Her mother didn't enjoy 'stories' and therefore Chad would not tell just to avoid her anger. She was pretty sure he had never known about her - dalliances - in high school and he hadn't visited her more than once or twice all of her college years so he had never known about her relationships then.

She licked her lips nervously, looking down at Chloe's sweet face, enjoying the playful look there and the way it was tilted a little bit, her plump lips puckered a little as she waited. She looked so hopeful, like all at once she had decided that she needed to be kissed, that she missed the feeling of Aubrey's lips on her own and she needed to fix that right away.

She was hard to resist, Aubrey had to admit that and so she didn't. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Chloe's, enjoying her scent, enjoying the way her hand snaked around to rest on her face.

When she pulled away, only an inch, her heart was fluttering a little. They were wonderful. What had she ever done to deserve to be part of something so special, so perfect? "Now will you try it?"

"Yes. Now I will try it."

She smiled, a little shy as she saw Beca watching them, seeming pleased.

Chloe still looked a little bit like a kid who was told to eat their green beans and while it was adorable, she was eager to change her mind. Carefully, she placed the food in Chloe's mouth, fully aware of her fingertips as they caught a bit on Chloe's bottom lip, fully aware of the sensual pleasure that the small act gave her.

She laughed a little, studying her hands until the excitement she was suddenly feeling calmed again. Which it did; until Chloe moaned over the food and then the process started all over again.

"So uh, I guess you like it then, huh?" Beca playfully asked, scooping her own dollop out and eating it. "Oh shit, Bree, you weren't fucking kidding!" She groaned through a full mouth. "This is good!"

"What was that?" Aubrey teased.

Beca shot her an eye roll and then flinched when Chloe flicked some water at her from her straw. "Dude," she chastised, seemingly fully aware that her mouth was too full to speak, "we are in _public_! Can you behave yourself?"

"You're so gross."

Aubrey clicked her tongue, enjoying Beca's whining eyes, "We just can't take you anywhere, can we, Beca?"

"Yeah, Bec," Chloe grinned, "this is why we can't have nice things."

Beca swallowed and stuck her tongue out at Chloe.

Quietly pleased, Aubrey began to eat as well.

The thing about Ethiopian food was that once you started there was no stopping, not until the plate was empty and you thought you were going to pop. They had laughed and teased, fighting playfully over the dishes, refusing to share and just like they always did, they fell into an easy rhythm. It made Aubrey wonder. Was being with a lover supposed to be this easy?

Soon they were all leaning heavily against the back of their chairs, their bellies distended.

"Guys, I'm dying," Beca announced.

"I told you not to finish that last bit," Aubrey shook her head but she wasn't any better. She was sure she was going to explode.

Chloe groaned, her arms and head planted on the table.

"Everything was good?" The owner asked, clearing the plate away, her sweet accent thick.

Chloe just groaned again.

"Yes," Aubrey smirked, "Thank you. We are all just _very_ full."

"That's good. Dessert?"

All three just moaned, shaking their heads.

"I feel like I need to lay down."

"Awe," Aubrey smiled at Chloe and reached over to rub her belly.

"Oh god, me! Me please."

Aubrey smiled, a little tickled, "Tell you what. Let's go home and I'll rub both of your bellies."

Chloe grinned, a pot bubbling over the sides and she jumped up but then her face fell, "We all have to go home tonight, don't we?"

Beca's face went slack, "Shit. I have to work in the morning."

Aubrey nodded, not ready to get back to the real world either. "You're more than welcome to stay but yes, I have work in the morning."

They paid, each arguing a little over the check and then stood to pull on their coats, Aubrey feeling too full and heavy to move in her heels.

They started back out into the cold evening air, their arms interlocked.

The cold seemed to wake them a little as they walked. It was a beautiful winter night, not too cold, at least not to her. People were out on the street shopping, making Aubrey realize that Christmas was coming far sooner than she had realized. They were already into the second week of the month.

"I can't believe it's almost Christmas," Chloe sighed, smiling warmly at a group of friends who were walking the other direction, all wearing Santa hats. "I'm so excited though! I get to meet my nephew for the first time."

Aubrey smiled. They had been with Chloe when she had received the call that her brother Evan and his wife, Abby, had finally given birth to their son, Miles. She had screamed and jumped up and down and cried, making both Aubrey and Beca look at the photos of Miles every hour that night. It had been one of the sweetest things that Aubrey had ever seen.

"You going home?" Beca asked, her hands shoving themselves into her pocket.

"Mmmhmm. I wish you guys could come. What are you doing for the holidays?"

Beca shook her head and shrugged, "Working. I have a few gigs."

"I will be staying home and enjoying a day in. Perhaps I'll go see 'White Christmas' at some old theater. There has to be one that will be playing it."

Chloe's huge eyes blinked, "You guys aren't going home?"

"I put in my time during thanksgiving," Beca shrugged.

"I-" she felt guilty and wrong saying that she didn't want to go back to her family in California. That would be rude so instead she just said, "Flights to California are expensive."

Chloe's face was still stricken, "But it's Christmas!"

Beca just shrugged and, not really wanting to answer either she studied the window display of the store they were passing.

"Oh come on, guys!" Chloe shook them a little, refusing their evasion. "It's Christmas. Going home is traditional for like everyone in the world. Don't you miss them? They're your family! You're supposed to spend the holidays with family."

Aubrey nodded, all at once tired. This happened. Chloe was a lot of energy and every now and then it was hard for her, overwhelming. The thought of explaining just why she did not want to go home felt silly, they both knew. It also felt exhausting. "I think I'm going to be happy to stay home, Chloe." She tried to say it lightly but Chloe's head still whipped around, her eyes reading her face.

Chloe's eyebrows pulled together at Aubrey's the expression. It was as though Aubrey's sudden tired had hurt Chloe in some way. She reached out and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

"I didn't really have any Christmas traditions," Beca shrugged, unaware of the small exchange happening between herself and Chloe. "So I for sure have like none now."

"Not even when you were little?"

"What were your traditions?" Aubrey asked. She and her family had traditions alright but she knew that anything her family had done, such as the Christmas Gala her parents used to throw, or the military ball would seem cold to Chloe.

 _Was_ cold.

The feeling of exhaustion pulled a little harder on her shoulders.

Chloe sighed, "I don't know. I guess we didn't really have any. All of us kids would get up early, like way before our parents wanted to be up and we would sneak downstairs and open our stockings." She laughed, "We weren't supposed to but we did it every year."

"Didn't you get into trouble?" Aubrey asked, imagining a little Chloe with her brothers and sisters. That thought made her smile and the exhaustion lightened.

"I think our parents must have been okay with it. I mean, we did it every year. - I don't know, it's silly I guess but Astrid and Tover would carry Maddie and I because we were the youngest and we always got them caught while Evan kept watch. It was like our own ninja mission."

"Oh my god, baby ninja Chloe," Beca beamed.

"And We always have Christmas pancakes for breakfast." Chloe added. "It's just pancakes with Christmas sprinkles in it but we always have them. And then we all get dressed. My mom always sews us these stupid little beanies so we all put them on and walk down to this kitchen that is not far from the house and we would volunteer there while my mom and my aunties make dinner."

Aubrey was smiling as she listened, holding Chloe's hand in hers a little tighter. It was such a sweet world that her sweet girl came from.

"Then after dinner the boys always play football, which I've never been able to understand because it's cold and we're always _so_ full. Oh my god, Tover and Evan got into a food eating contest one year when I was like ten." Chloe laughed to herself until she gave a small snort and Beca had to tease her about it. "They-they-they ate so much and then they went out and played football. My mom kept telling them not to because they were going to get sick but they didn't listen. Of course they both threw up everywhere. Tover tackled Evan too hard and then seeing Evan get sick made Tover get sick. My mom ended up spraying them down with the hose outside as punishment. So I'm not sure why this is still a thing they do. But they do it." Chloe fell silent for a moment, smiling, "Oh and we always put up the tree the first night that everyone is home. The Christmas before last Maddie couldn't come home so we didn't have one at all because my mom thought that it wasn't right to do it without her." Chloe chewed her lip, making them stop to admire a costume shop's window. "We're going to take Miles to see Santa this year too. That's going to be so much fun." She blinked, her cheeks going pink. "Oh, I've been talking for a while, huh? I guess we have more than I thought. You guys really don't have any?"

"Ham," Aubrey finally admitted, pulling them so that they continued down the street, "It was my grandmother's favorite." She smiled at the memory. "We always came here for Christmas when she was alive and she made one every year for me because she knew that I love it. My brother hates ham but she always made it for me. That and goose, she always made a goose."

"Bec?"

Beca rolled her eyes, her shoulders slumping a little. "My dad, err, before he left used to always do the Christmas lights. It was like this huge freaking thing for him. And when I was little we used to go out there and watch. My mom always made hot chocolate and we would watch him nearly fall off the ladder."

"Awe," Chloe grinned, "He never did, right?"

"Nope. Though I heard he did once with Sarah. Right after she got her permit. I guess she had to drive him to the hospital. He was fine, but yeah, totally fell off."

They turned on to Aubrey's street, admiring the lights as they chuckled.

Chloe groaned as Aubrey opened the front door, kicking off her heels and falling onto the couch in the living room, "So full."

"Scoot." Beca lightly smacked at Chloe's feet but Aubrey took their hands, laughing when they moaned and pulled them back toward the den where there was enough room for all of them.

They spent a while on the couches, rubbing their stomachs and talking. Aubrey wasn't all of that surprised when she suddenly woke hours later, having fallen asleep during her food coma. She woke both of them, insisting that they needed to come to bed and that it was too late to drive home.

Aubrey woke the next morning spooned tightly by Chloe, her face pressed into Beca's back and moved fast to stop her FitBit from vibrating on her wrist before it woke the other two. It was early, just like it always was when she woke. She smiled and cuddled back in between them, her heart full.

This was wonderful.

Neither moved as she did her best to awkwardly slide out of the bed and grab her gym things.

She didn't want to go and that was strange because she always wanted to go to the gym. She loved her work out time. She loved getting up before the city was awake and jogging to the gym, the humid New Orleans air sticky and smelling of fireplaces and the holidays in the winter and new flowers in the summer. She loved jogging back with a sense of accomplishment. Still, as she pulled on her clothes she looked at the other two in the gray light with a frown.

The want to stay only increased when she got back, her muscles well used - if not a little sore thanks to their bedroom activities. She showered, pulled her hair back and dressed in her favorite gray pencil skirt and yellow blouse.

She didn't want to go. She wanted to crawl, fully dressed between her new lovers and sink in.

She spent a second watching them sleep, her heels in her hands.

She still couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe just how much she cared for them. Her best friends.

She went to the cupboard in the kitchen that held her spare keys and left a note explaining that she had gone to work, that the spare key only worked on the backdoor so please leave the front locked and inviting them to stay as long as they wanted. She hoped, the thought occurred to her as she set the note and they key on the bedside table, that they wouldn't be hurt or offended that she only had one. Perhaps she would get another one made on her lunch break. Or was it too early for that?

She sighed, picking up her purse and starting for the door.

Well. At least she knew that no matter what the day held, it would be a good one.

She stopped at her favorite coffee shop on Annunciation street on her way into work to buy herself a wrap for breakfast; she hadn't wanted to wake Beca and Chloe by cooking and, in her good mood, when she saw a peanut butter and chocolate doughnut she actually bought it for her brother and then grabbed him a coffee as well.

She strolled into the office as she always did - first - and set the things for her brother on his desk. She liked that she was always first. She liked going through the rooms and clicking on the lights, waking them up, spending a moment in the office she loved so much.

It was a full hour later, Chad still absent from his desk that Aubrey's phone went off.

She smiled to herself as she clicked it open and saw a photo of Beca and Chloe, still obviously in _her_ bed, still in the tee shirts she had unknowingly lent them. They were cuddled up, Chloe cuddled in tightly to Beca as they smiled up at the camera. It was a beautiful picture, both smiling a little foolishly, their cheeks flushed, their eyes sparkling. She stared at it for a long time, wondering if there was any way that she could save it to her phone lock screen and yet keep it from, well, everyone.

"Hey, puke breath."

Aubrey dropped her phone in surprise. It clattered to the desk loudly but Chad didn't seem to notice. His cheeks were round and full and, like the little boy she sometimes swore he was, he had chocolate on his face.

"It's cold." He frowned, holding up the coffee with a baffled expression.

Her lips pursed, double checked that her phone was closed and passcode protected before shoving it in her desk drawer. "It wouldn't have been if you were here when we opened."

"Yeah but no one but you gets here at seven. Like, that's not even normal so,"

"Chad," Aubrey sighed, rubbing her temples, "we open at eight."

His eyebrows rose, "Oh, no shit?"

She gaped but she didn't know what to say to that so she just shook her head.

"Okay well, thank yoooouu for the cold coffee. I guess."

She rolled her eyes and watched him go. The moment he was gone she took her phone back out, smiling again at the photo for a moment before closing the photo and dialing the number for the company lawyer.

It turned out that he wasn't in, which was probably good. A thought had popped into Aubrey's mind while the phone had been ringing and she found that it distracted her completely.

Her heart had been warmed by the photo but now she felt a slick tickle of jealousy as she asked the secretary to have him call her back.

It was silly.

She had no right to be jealous.

Or to worry.

And yet, she began to wonder...what were Beca and Chloe doing in that moment? Had they rolled over and gone back to sleep? Were they up, perhaps making breakfast as they both had jobs that started in the early afternoon? Or perhaps were they taking advantage of Aubrey's huge shower? Were they at this moment carefully bathing the other? Had they taken the photo and then rolled over to taste and touch?

The thought made her squirm so badly that she vaulted out of her seat, walking to the small break room to get herself a glass of water even though she didn't need it.

On the way back she chastised herself. She should _hope_ that Beca and Chloe were...were making love. She should want them to. She did want them to. That would be a wonderful start to their day and sex between two of them as well as all three was the goal. '50% of our sex is duo while the other 50% is Triad', the writer had promised in her most revered article. That was their goal. That was the comfort level they needed, that she _wanted_ them to reach.

She swallowed down the jealous bile and promised herself that she could move on.

Only, she couldn't concentrate.

She didn't understand what was wrong with her. She had enjoyed watching them together over the weekend. She enjoyed the thought of them together now and yet it made her worry.

It was just because she didn't know, she realized a few minutes later. Surely it was alright to text them and ask, right?

No, that would be weird of her and she didn't want to seem like a bitch or like she was jealous.

She pushed it from her mind but it was back a few minutes later and she had to know.

She had her phone in her hand before she had thought about it and was sending off the text. It wasn't a plea to know, like she wanted to ask but instead she had texted them a thinly veiled tease, her stomach in knots.

She had to work on this. She wanted to. And part of her would be glad to know they had been together that morning. It would show that they were growing comfortable in this new relationship at a healthy rate. It was normal to be a little jealous at first, she knew they all would have to face it. Being in a relationship that was built in this style was amazing but also new to all of them.

Still she hadn't been able to be that open with her worries. Not yet. Instead she had texted the group chat, "Are you two lazy bums still in bed?"

A few minutes ticked by and Aubrey busied herself with getting ready to go to the house with the rafter done incorrectly. She stood, picked up her purse, checked her hair in the mirror and tried not to admit that their silence was all at once alarming and also soothing.

Her phone chimed as soon as she had gotten into her car, making her heart leap into her throat. Alright. This was silly. She scolded herself, forcing herself to wait until she was fully settled into the car before opening her phone as punishment.

The response was from Beca, "I wish! I have a meeting this morning so I couldn't stay. Ten bucks says that Chloe is still in your bed though. She kept complaining that we made her get up early all weekend."

"Chloe's version of early is a little bit subjective." Aubrey typed back and then turned on her car, a smile on her face.

Going home that night was her least favorite part of the day.

They had gotten a text message from Chloe an hour after Beca's text saying that Aubrey's bed was comfortable and that she was finally getting up so Aubrey had known that the house would be empty. Still, seeing it that way had been a little disheartening. It made her worry that perhaps she wouldn't see them again until the following weekend.

She made herself dinner, watched some TV, cleaned up the house despite its already neat order and got ready for the next day.

Chloe, she knew, was out on a tour when Aubrey got into bed. Still she texted the two of them, "My bed feels far larger than it did a few days ago."

"Mine too." Beca texted back and then a moment later she sent a photo. It was of her, obviously in bed as well and wearing, Aubrey grinned to see, the gray Boston shirt. "I don't think you're getting this back."

She loved knowing that Beca was in bed wearing her shirt.

"That's alright. I'll steal something of yours eventually too. Both of you." She paused, clicking back over to the photo they had sent her that morning. She looked at it for a long while before, tentatively, she sent, "I miss you two."

She really did. She had missed them often over the last months. They had all grown so close so quickly that of course she had but now things were a little different. No, that wasn't right. Things were a lot different. She missed them far more than she thought she should and she felt foolish as soon as she sent it. Groaning, she fell over, letting her face smack into the pillows and then groaning again when she could smell traces of them there.

Her phone buzzed and she nearly bit her tongue in her effort to grab it.

"I know. I miss you guys too." Beca said and then followed it up with a heart emoji. Beca didn't usually use emojis. Chloe was wearing off on her. Or she really meant it.

Aubrey accepted the fact that she wouldn't see them anytime soon the next day at the office, working with Chad to fix the mistake he still swore he hadn't made. The thought of not seeing them was depressing but she made do. Therefore she was over the moon when Beca texted that night, informing her that she and Chloe would be over in an hour.

They showed up that night and while they didn't stay like Aubrey secretly hoped, they did spend the evening playing Monopoly, trying to out cheat the others and then spent a while kissing on the couch. The night after that they watched movies, the night after that Beca worked while Chloe spent time on her dissertation and Aubrey sat on a conference call with their lawyer. It was all perfectly normal, just like it always had been, but with the bonus of, when Aubrey got off the phone and was nearly in tears Beca and Chloe had taken her back to the bedroom and had touched her until she had thought she would melt from exhaustion, her heart warm, desired and cared for.

They spent every night that week together and while they did they learned.

Chloe as an aggressive sleeper and did not like to share room in the bed. She could start out cuddling and then suddenly whoever was on the edge would wake about to fall off or perhaps squished into the wall.

Beca liked cold showers, so cold that it made Aubrey shiver when she would lean in for a post-shower kiss and her lips would be like ice.

Aubrey, as they learned, liked to sleep in the nude.

Both Beca and Chloe, it turned out, liked it when Aubrey didn't wear a bra in the safety of the house, enjoying the way that her rings poked into the cloth of her shirt.

Both Aubrey and Chloe were very fond of Beca's tattoos, which was good because it turned Beca to mush when the swirling shapes were kissed or, even better, traced with a tongue.

They learned that Chloe was nervous that she wasn't satisfying them in bed and that Beca, post fight as they experienced on that Friday, liked to close herself off with music when upset.

Aubrey was pleased to see that she wasn't the only one with moments of jealousy, each had sprouted their own moments of insecurity and each had been carefully talked out and pushed away. With that, their slight discomfort at the newness, their small shynesses drifted away and they began to smile more, kiss more, tease and pet more as they sank into the rhythm of their relationship.

The week was amazing, one of Aubrey's best.

Chloe grew steadily more excited to go home and see her family and Aubrey, a little resentfully, had resigned herself to the fact that she would indeed be going back to California for the holidays, post a phone call from the General.

The week was so good that she barely noticed when it transitioned into the next and soon Christmas was at their door.

* * *

New art for this story! (Warning, it's NSFW) Head over to AO3 or Tumblr (under the tag Art by Dragone) and let the amazing Dragone know how you feel about it!


	18. Chapter 18

_**Beca**_

* * *

"But you would tell me, right, Bec? I mean, I know you wouldn't want to hurt my feelings or anything but-"

Beca sighed, turning out of the French Quarter and onto Rampart. She wanted out of this conversation that they were having for like the tenth time. It had been two weeks of them being, you know, together, aka having mind-blowingly amazing sex. Shouldn't Chloe still be caught up in the throes of new physical love and all of that? This should so not be on her mind, especially because the issues she thought were happening were so not. Beca didn't get it. Chloe had always been confident as hell when it came to her sexuality. She had never backed away from any mission given to her, anything one of the other two wanted but afterward when they were all lying together in bed Chloe always asked the same thing, 'was that okay?' or even went as far as to apologize for not being good enough.

Apparently throwing another woman into the mix had Chloe a little shaken.

"Don't sigh at me please, Beca, I'm actually asking. Come on. I don't need the 'Chloe-calm-down-you're-making-me-tired sigh from you too."

Beca's eyebrows rose for a second before she said, "Sorry! It's just like, ugh," she wished Aubrey was here for this. Aubrey handled this question so much better than she did. "Oh, I forgot to ask you, did you remember to pack your charger? You told me to remind you."

"Beca!" Chloe slapped her arm, her face crumpling into mortified terror. "Oh my god, Beca! Oh my god!"

"No, no, don't read into that, I was just trying, I dunno, to get you on a different subject maybe."

"Oh come on! It's the day before Christmas Eve and I'm _leaving!_ You _have_ to answer me!"

"I don't know." Beca shrilled, "Whatever. _No_ , I guess is what my answer would be." She and Aubrey hadn't talked about it yet but Beca was pretty sure Chloe's worry was, in turn, making her worry as much as it was making Beca worry. Chloe swore her nerves were not a big deal, that it was just that, nerves, but she was asking these questions enough that they were a little worried. "No, I don't really worry about whether or not I'm, um, you know, _satisfying_ you guys. I feel like the multiple screaming orgasms are a pretty good tell." Her face pulled into a frown and she shot her a suddenly level-ten-panicked side glance, "Unless you're trying to tell me something!"

"No!" Chloe jumped and then grinned in a way that let her know she really wasn't.

Beca nodded, trying not to let her head get a little tripped up by that. _Was_ that really what this was about? Shit, was Chloe walking away from sex feeling unsatisfied? _Shit_. Beca usually left feeling like her body was made out of a sloppily molded jello. Was it that Chloe was trying to tell them something?

Fuck. This was going to really fuck up her head if she wasn't careful.

"Why?"

"Um, why - what?"

"Why don't you worry? I mean, I don't know, Becs, you're so different from me. You never forget about the other person, like ever, ever. And I know that I'm good in bed, I _know_ that but I get so focused on the one that I forget the other and then I feel so bad! So I try and pay attention to both and I don't think either of you have a very good time. And neither of you would _ever_ tell me if it was bad. Like, ever."

"Hey, Chlo," Beca grit her teeth, taking her frustration about the topic out on a driver that had just cut her off by laying on the horn.

"I'm sorry," Chloe's lips twisted into a grimace, "I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I?"

"What no, it's just," she groaned a little, "I'm worried that I can't say the right thing like Bree does. But like, okay," pausing at a red she turned to her, trying to make her point fast so that she didn't have enough time to blush at her own words, "remember the other night when you had Aubrey's legs up, you know," she swallowed, trying to remain unaffected by the memory and the fact that Chloe was sitting so close and looking at her like that, "like, really high and she came so hard that she foreheaded her knee?"

Chloe licked her lips and nodded, looking a little dazed herself.

"Yeah, well, pretty sure she wouldn't have accidentally done that if it was bad."

"Oh." Chloe sat back, a sign that surely the worst of this talk was over and Beca was glad. "What about you?"

She took a deep breath, holding it for a moment, "Nope. No complaints."

"Really?"

Really. "Tell you what. Next time I'll knee myself in the forehead." She reached over and took Chloe's hand, "Chloe, I know that this is kind of new, but please stop worrying. Yeah, maybe sex for us looks a little different but I know I'm – I'm _good_ and I think Aubrey is too."

"Bec?"

"Hmm?"

"Pull over for a sec."

"What?"

"Like right there. 'Kay?"

A little worried and annoyed that she had indeed said the wrong thing Beca pulled into the lot. She just wasn't great at that. She was good with one or two sentences of the right thing at the right time but having to explain something, yeah no, not her strong point.

She parked, a little nervous, "So um, what's up? I uh- _ohshit_!"

She guessed that maybe she had said the right thing, or at least she thought she had by the way that Chloe was attacking her face, her hands cupping her neck, her thumbs stroking Beca's cheeks.

The thing was, when Chloe was kissing you this way you didn't have a lot of choices - or at least she didn't; you kissed back as much and as hard as you could. Beca pressed, pushing Chloe back against the window, groaning as Chloe gave a happy little moaning giggle.

Fuuuck, this _woman_ was going to be the death of her. They were both going to be the death of her.

Chloe deepened the kiss, her hands pulling her tighter against her before forcing her away, "I-" her cheeks went pink, "I'm _crazy_ about you. Did you know that?"

Beca laughed a little, studying Chloe's bright eyes at this close distance. She opened her mouth but she wasn't sure what to say so she just kissed her again, harder and longer.

She did know. And she knew that Chloe felt the same way about Aubrey. It was hard not to know when she looked at both of them like they were her favorite Christmas gifts.

It took a second for her to pull away again and when she did she simply let her forehead rest against Chloe's, trying to steady her breathing. "We're going to be late."

"There's no set time we're supposed to be there, Becs." Chloe hummed, her fingers gripping Beca by the ass.

"Yeah but I'm feeling a little like a goldfish in a bowl. There's a bunch of guys staring behind you. So, um, let's go and we can continue that with our -' she paused, her mouth snapping shut. She had been about to say 'our girlfriend'. Was that accurate? She wasn't sure. "With Bree," she finished.

Chloe didn't seem to notice her near slip though. She instead righted herself in the seat and, cheery and bubbly as ever, waved to the men who were still watching them as Beca pulled away.

"So. Back to my question. Did you pack your charger?"

"Yes, I did."

"Good job."

They were pulling onto Aubrey's street when Chloe spoke again.

"Are you going to miss me?"

"YES!" Beca shouted, a grin on her face as Chloe cackled happily. "Two weeks is too long! What were you thinking?"

"Awww, Bec! I hate the idea of leaving you."

"I think Aubrey feels the same way too. Though, I think for her it's more about wishing she got to stay home too more than, you know, not wanting me to be home alone for Christmas."

"What time do you two leave for the airport tomorrow?"

"Like the buttcrack of dawn. If I didn't like her so much I might make her just take an Uber." She was a little grumpy about it, but it wasn't just because of the early hour. She actually really wasn't all of that excited to spend the holiday alone. It was silly because she knew neither wanted to go out of town and leave her behind - and she had spent all of her holidays alone - and she shouldn't care anyway because she was going to be fucking crazy busy for the next few weeks. Still, she just wished - well - it wasn't like she could go home with either of them anyway. At least Aubrey, who didn't want to go at all, would only be gone five days including travel, unlike Chloe who was looking forward to seeing her family.

For a moment Beca wondered what that would be like, to have a family like that to go home to. She pictured a slew of holiday movies where adult children went running home with their arms pull of carefully selected gifts, where the first thing they did was drop them under the tree before running into their parent's arms.

Strange.

Chloe just shook her head, fully aware that Beca would never let Aubrey take an Uber, "I don't really want to leave either of you. Is that silly?"

Beca parked, sending her a quick glance to see what her face was saying in that moment. No, she really didn't think that it was that silly or weird. Yeah, so maybe they hadn't been sleeping together for very long but this relationship was almost eight months in the making. They had gotten kind of close. She just shook her head and sent her a small wink, "Come on. Don't want to make you late and I want to have plenty of time for, um, let's say our _goodbyes_."

Chloe grinned, scrambling out of the car at top speed and grabbing the bag she packed for their lunch.

All three of them had taken the day off. Well, Chloe and Beca had while Aubrey's office had already closed for the holidays. Which was probably good because Beca was fairly sure that Aubrey wouldn't have been able to relax all day had she actually taken it off and they needed her to relax. It had been three days since they had all been together, each trying to scramble like mad before the holidays. They had planned a small lunch and then a few hours of unplanned leisure time before Beca took Chloe to the Megabus station.

"Do you really think that Aubrey is pleased with our sex life?"

Beca gave a snort. Aubrey had been a different woman since they kissed and even more so since they had first slept together. She had always been attentive but now it was like she was hardwired into their brain. She had been laughing, and not a little bit but with the happy freedom of someone who is totally content. And every now and then Beca was sure she caught Aubrey watching them in a way that Beca knew was significant. Yeah, she was pretty sure Aubrey was happy with their sex life. Still she said, "I dunno, Chlo. Only one way to find out."

Chloe gave a playful frown, "Ask her?"

"Oh hell no. That would be like, too easy. And far too responsible. I was thinking that you just need to get her to knee herself in the face again."

Chloe cackled and rang the doorbell.

Beca smirked at Chloe, seeing her fingering her keys. She knew that Chloe had they key to get in but neither really felt comfortable using it. They only had it because of circumstances, not because Aubrey had _given them a key to her place_.

The door swung open after the third ring and Beca let out a groan, immediately debating turning around and leaving. "Dude, what are you _doing_ here, Chad?" So far they had been really lucky. They hadn't been forced to come face to face with him often. Beca had never complained about that since, each time they did, Bumper was all over her. At first it would be ridicule filled flirting, something that Beca hated, then it would be awkward and pathetic flirting, something that she liked even less.

She didn't get it. The meaner she was to him, the more he seemed to like her.

"Uh, you mean Bumper, don't you?"

Beca just glared at Aubrey's brother, willing him away.

They both _hated_ him.

"Will you please move so we can come inside?"

"Inside?" Chad frowned, holding the door protectively despite the sweetness Chloe was trying hard to give him. "Why would you want to come inside?"

"Oh, I don't know," Beca scoffed, "it might have something to do with the person who lives here."

Chad grinned at her, that stupid slow totally gross grin that he always gave her. "What will you give me if I let you in?"

"What?" Chloe scowled, looking a little like she wanted to vomit on him.

"I mean, now, I've got you both pegged as lesbos," he said in a low mutter, "but I could be wrong, right? Stranger things have happened so if so which one of you, _Beca_ , would like -"

"Don't even finish that sentence, dude."

"God, you're such a perv," Chloe snapped, pushing past him and into the house.

"Thank yooou!"

"Gah!" Beca squawked as suddenly she ran into the back of Chloe. "Jesus, Chlo! Walking behind you is hazardous. It's like the driving rule, always stay one car length back." She pushed around her, glaring a little and saw the look on her face, completely frozen, her mouth hanging open with happy joy, her eyes excited and sparkling. Jesus, all she needs, Beca strangely thought, is to have her hands clasped under her chin and she would look like she had just been given a pony. Then she turned and she understood.

In the living room sat Aubrey, her legs properly crossed at the ankle, her waxen face looking greener than Beca had ever seen it, her plastic smile stretched so wide that it looked like it might break. It was only her eyes that showed any hint of panic or concern. If they were wider than normal then it was only just, but they were frozen, somehow expressionless in a way that screamed for them to run, to turn around and leave, whether for her safety or theirs, it didn't really matter so long as no one had to go through what was about to happen.

On the other side of the room, posed on the edge of the couch sat a man and a woman who _had_ to be Aubrey's parents. Aubrey was the splitting image of both; she was a younger twin of her mother but with her father's eyes and nose.

Immediately Beca understood. She saw the look on Aubrey's face, saw the stiff way that her mother and father were sitting and knew without a doubt that they had to get out of there, for all of their sakes.

She got it, just like she always got the family thing.

The problem was that Chloe was standing there and looking at Aubrey's parents with absolute joy, like she couldn't wait to hear the story of Aubrey's first steps and look at baby photos and cook them Christmas dinner and possibly use Aubrey's mother's name for their first born.

And that was a problem.

Just like Beca had known that she needed to get the fuck out, she knew this was going to be a problem. She could see Chloe taking Grace Posen in, seeing the way her older face looked so much like her daughters, the way that her silver hair flowed just like Aubrey's did, even the set distant purse of her lips.

Chloe blinked and let out a breathy, "Oh my god, hi!" As though the Posen's were unexpected but totally welcomed house guests – in her own home.

Alarm bells were going off inside of Beca, the same alarm bells that she heard every time her father gave that particular sigh, the one that came right before he announced another one of Sarah's accomplishments. And yet they were trapped. No more than a second had passed since they had stormed past Chad and they were totally caught.

The graying older gentleman was already rising at the presence of the new women, a knee-jerk courtesy that was clearly so ingrained in him that he was standing before he even fully registered them. "Ladies!" He smiled in a way that spoke of years of professionalism, "Welcome! You must be friends of our kitten."

For a moment Beca just stared at him, one hundred percent unsure of what the fuck he was talking about until she realized, ew, 'kitten' was Aubrey. She had to work hard to keep the distaste off of her face for a moment because that was just freaking demeaning. She glanced at Aubrey and though her expression hadn't really changed, there was somehow something a little more pinched about her face.

They had to get out of there.

"Mother. Daddy. These are my friends. This is Beca and that's Chloe. They just came by to-" but then Aubrey's face went blank again, frozen mid-sentence. The room fell awkwardly silent and her father looked down at her, waiting with a touch of open annoyance for Aubrey to finish her sentence. Across the living room Grace Posen was glaring daggers into her daughter as though she knew _exactly_ why they were there - which - she couldn't, right? Beca felt a sprig of panic climb up her throat. There was literally no way that she knew that they were there to spend Aubrey's last afternoon before the holidays in the throes of super hot polyamorous sex, could she? No! No way!

Except, maybe she did. Beca got the feeling that Mrs. Posen was the type of woman who somehow just knew everything that you didn't want her to know, like she could pull your misdeeds from your skin like oil.

From beside her Chloe was blinking a little too rapidly, looking slapped and Beca knew exactly why. 'These are my friends'. Shit. But what the fuck had she expected Aubrey to do? She didn't know but 'these are my friends' was apparently not what she had wanted from that introduction.

The silence was still hanging there, stifling and thick like tar so Beca spoke.

"We just heard that this one was getting on a plane tomorrow for Cali so we came to say goodbye." Beca offered, stepping forward to fill the silence that Aubrey had left. "I guess we got some bad information, huh?" She hated parents, honestly, even her own but she was kind of good at being totally and completely full of shit when she needed to be.

Aubrey's father let out a boom of a laugh and shook her hand, "Well, let's just say it turns out that it isn't necessary. Please, come sit down. Don't let our impromptu visit ruin your plans."

Yeah buddy, her mind laughed, I'm thinking they are already ruined.

Beca tried to catch Aubrey's eye to see if they should make an excuse or if they should sit down. With _her_ family it was always better to make the excuse. It would be awkward for like a second but then everyone could go about their day. Something told her that the Posen's would not work that way. She tried to figure out the answer fast but whatever it was that was on Aubrey's face was entirely unreadable. It was like her expression was frozen, stuck in the ghastly thing that her parents found acceptable and unable to budge for even a moment. She was pretty sure that Aubrey was trying to communicate with her, at least her eyes were drilling into Beca's, but Beca just wasn't picking it up. So she sat, because what else were they fucking going to do? The last thing they needed was for her parents to one day find out about them and only remember them as the rude girls who ran out on them at Christmas. Beca sank onto the small ottoman, pulling a still stunned Chloe down next to her.

"My dear, are you alright?"

Beca jumped, realizing that Grace had just turned to Chloe, a look of WASPish concern on her face. She really wished that Chloe would get herself under control. "She just ate a bad batch of crawfish," Beca laughed, jumping in for Chloe. "She'll be okay, right Chlo?" She gave Chloe a nudge in the ribs, trying to get her to snap to. Immediately she wished she hadn't. Chloe looked like something from The Exorcist. Her head turned on her neck and she glared at Beca with a fury that made Beca shrink away. She looked like she was about to eat her fucking face. All the more awkward, she swallowed thickly and gave a nervous laugh to the group, clicking on a fake smile.

 _Jesus._

"Have a glass of wine with us," Aubrey's father insisted. "I'm sorry, remind me of your names again please, ladies?"

Beca introduced them again and then he, in turn told them that 'this was Mrs. Posen, Aubrey's mother and I'm her father, Lieutenant General Posen.'

"Chadwick!" The general scolded, "Go get these beautiful ladies a glass of wine! My god, sometimes I don't know who raised you."

Chad, for his part, looked like he wanted to throw a fit. He glanced sullen at Beca, who couldn't help but to lift her eyebrows and mouth, _Chadwick?_ He glared and silently mouthed back, 'shut up, lesbo' as he shuffled from the room, looking like a man version of a dog with its tail between its legs.

They sat silently for a long minute, listening to Chad blunder around in the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a glass of wine which he handed to Grace Posen demurely, then disappeared and reappeared with three fresh glasses, one for Beca, Chloe, and to Beca's surprise, one for Aubrey which he handed to her with a wink.

Aubrey took it, giving her brother a soft smile.

Beca had to admit she was a little stunned but it was kind of great to see that, apparently, in the face of their parents Chad could be a halfway decent guy. For a moment she could see a relationship between them she had never seen before, something that looked a lot like proper brothers and sisters.

"So girls," The General said, as he picked up the glass of scotch he had already had set on a coaster, "I hope you don't mind us interrupting you. My wife and I decided that it was silly to spend another Christmas in California when we could spend a little cash and finally come see the city."

"Didn't you come before?" Beca asked, wishing immediately she hadn't. She probably shouldn't ask questions but it was fucking out there now. Good job, Bec. "When Silvia was still alive?"

A shadow passed over Aubrey's face but it was once again the general who answered.

"Unfortunately not. We used to send our children down here to visit their grandmother but Mrs. Posen and I were usually hip deep in work."

"Are you staying here or did you get a room somewhere in the city?" Chloe asked, her upset spell either passing or hiding itself behind her usual charm.

"We decided to get a suite of rooms at the Hotel Monteleone. Aubrey's aunts and uncles are there now checking us all in."

Chloe gave them a sweet smile, so saccharine that it only made Beca worry more. "Oh, that's a beautiful hotel." Chloe said. "You know they say that Tennessee Williams wrote some of his most famous works there. If you get a chance, visit the Carousel Bar; it's world famous. That is the best spot in the city for Bourbon Milk Punch and their Sazerac recipe has actually been trademarked."

"Chloe," Aubrey jumped, when Chloe's information was met with silence, "is a city historian."

Chloe grinned, her eyes flicked to Aubrey and back and Beca saw that whatever hurt Chloe had felt was still there alright.

"Is that right?" The General asked, looking surprised and bemused. "And here I always thought that it was us men who were the fact people."

Beca wasn't sure what her face looked like at that but Chloe's didn't change, still entirely neutral as though she simply hadn't understood.

Aubrey laughed stiffly, "She's better than a textbook. You should read her dissertation. It's very interesting."

"If only I weren't heading out of town, I would give you guys a tour!"

"You won't find a better tour guide," Aubrey insisted.

The General gave a slight nod, "Thank you, Chloe. Are you off to visit family?"

"Yes, sir. My whole family always comes home for the holidays."

"And where is that?"

"The outskirts of Sugar Land, Texas."

"Ah," he gave a chuckle, "Those nightly stars, huh?"

Chloe laughed and, looking cute as a freaking button as she did it, she clapped softly four times and sang, " _Deep in the heart of Texas!_ "

Mrs. Posen's lips thinned at this but The General gave a genial enough chuckle. Leave it to freaking Chloe Beale to even charm this guy. "And what about you, Beca? Are you going home for the holidays?"

"Hmm, not this year." She squirmed, feeling like she was caught in the middle of a tension triangle: Aubrey and her parents, Beca and Aubrey's parents and, the worst, Chloe and Aubrey. Was she the only one who could feel the hot heat radiating from Chloe and burying Aubrey? "Unfortunately I have a lot of work to do."

"My," Grace spoke up for the second time since they had arrived, "that's an unusual amount of tattoos."

Beca opened her mouth to play it off. She was used to that; anyone with a lot of tattoos was used to people reacting weirdly to them, strangers on the street grabbing her to get a closer look, people touching them at random and every form of bizarre question you could imagine.

Aubrey spoke first though, "Mother, Beca is in the _music_ business."

"I see," Grace Posen said in a clipped voice, as though this explained everything.

Beca blinked. Wow. She had always gotten the impression that Aubrey, no matter how uptight she had always been, had kind of accepted Beca for who she was. It was something that didn't make sense but had always been a hint of the personality under the frost. As a matter of fact, Beca would have ventured one step past that and said, her mind snapped back to a few nights before, to when she had spent a good five minutes trying to stay still as Aubrey traced Beca's thigh sleeve with her tongue - she would have said that Aubrey _liked_ Beca's tattoos.

Now though, she could see the way that Aubrey wouldn't look at her, or Chloe or her mother.

Okay, so had Aubrey always been a little embarrassed by her 'alternative' friend? The weird alternative friend who was in the _music_ business. What. The. Fuck.

"Well, Beca, if you would like you are welcome to join us for Christmas."

Like fucking hell.

Beca smiled, "Thank you, uh, sir, but I actually have to work over Christmas."

"Are you sure? We have reservations at 'Restaurant R'evolution' tomorrow night. I hear their quail is very enjoyable." He said it kindly. In fact, he said it so kindly that Beca got the point entirely, come strange little alt girl and let us show you how the other half lives - you'll get a five-star meal and we will get to feel like we did something for someone in need this holiday season.

Right. Her jaw tightened and she decided to make an executive order. This was exhausting.

They were leaving now.

She smiled and gave a slight incline to her head, "Thank you for the offer, General, but I really do have to work. The shame of adult holidays, huh? Anyway, we just came over to wish Aubrey a safe trip, which I guess is not needed anymore! So we better go. Chloe as a ride to catch."

"I'll-" Aubrey jumped up, "I'll walk you out."

Beca stood and shook Aubrey's father's hand before she took her marching orders.

The three walked out of the house, down the front steps and around to the side parking lot in a stiff, frozen silence. Now that they were away from prying eyes Chloe's face had shifted, her lips pursed, one eyebrow slightly higher than the other, warning of trouble. Aubrey had done a miraculous reversion, stiff as a board, each step as careful as it used to be, her features tight.

They got to Beca's car and they all just sort of stopped and stood there for a moment, Beca looking between each pinched face while Aubrey and Chloe both looked right past the other.

It was Aubrey who broke first. Her face crumpled, anxiety washing over her as she said in a low voice, "I can tell you're upset with me, Chloe."

Chloe's lips pursed a little more for a moment before she said to the tree just to the left of Aubrey, "I'm not upset." Which, of course, was a sure sign that Chloe was upset. "I'm just sad. Are you ashamed of us, Aubrey?"

Immediately Aubrey stepped closer, hissing, "What did you want me to say? Hi daddy, these are the two women I'm seeing? He doesn't even know I would date _one_ woman let alone two."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have that luxury, Chloe." Aubrey hissed.

"Yeah, Chloe," Beca put a gentle hand on her arm, trying to comfort, "it's not personal. Come on, would you introduce us to your family?" Chloe was a passionate person, they both knew and loved this about her and she knew that Chloe had been feeling a little insecure for the last two weeks but this wasn't exactly fair.

"Yes!" Chloe quietly shrilled back, "Yes, I would! I want to! If both of you came home with me right now then yes, I would introduce both of you! My parents and my brothers and sisters would love you!"

"That's easy for you to say right now, Chloe, because it's not happening! We're not standing in front of your parents, are we?"

"Don't tell me what I would or would not do, Aubrey!"

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to!" She took a deep breath, openly trying not to get swept into the fight that Chloe had brewing inside of her. "Chloe," Aubrey gently touched her arm too, her pinkie setting over Beca's hand as well, "I don't have that freedom like you do. My parents, they aren't like yours. You know that."

"You should tell them who you are! You're their daughter! Their family. They deserve to know you!"

Aubrey took a step back, her cheeks going red. "That is not a choice for you to make or an opinion for you to have here, Chloe!" Beca hadn't seen that look on Aubrey's face for a long time, that oh-shit-that-was-bad look but it was there now, clouding her features. Beca wasn't all of that surprised though. Family was Aubrey's hot spot. Poke it and you saw flames.

Chloe gave a scoff, her arms crossed and turned to get into the car but Beca stopped her, cocking an eyebrow.

"This is my family and, I'm sorry. I can't. Chloe, it's not because I'm ashamed of you, it's because my father still introduces himself as 'Lieutenant General Posen'! Chloe, he is taking me to midnight and Christmas morning mass! This isn't fair. My family is not like yours, I don't get to be who I want to be."

"Hey," Beca gave Aubrey's hand a squeeze, trying to calm her. She had been interrupting fights between Aubrey and Chloe since they met but this one, she felt like her hands were tied because she got both sides for once. She, Beca, hadn't expected to be introduced at all and yeah, she hadn't liked the tattoo thing and it had kind of pissed her off but she also _got that_ , at least for the most part. She understood having a family that didn't really take you as you are, she understood a family that expected you to fill a role and would not tolerate anything else. Chloe, however, well, they had come across this problem before. Chloe didn't quite understand that. From everything Beca could gather, the Beales were the opposite. Chloe had grown up warm and loved and supported. She probably _would_ take them home _right then_ if she could. She would probably sweep both of them into the car and take off toward Texas where she would cart them around, a huge grin on her face as she introduced them as her lovers. Beca could already see it, see the way the Beales would look surprised at first but then would calm, accepting their daughter and therefore them with ease.

And maybe that was what they should do. Maybe they _should_ just get in the car and ignore everything else and just be them and be supported, but that wasn't really how life had worked for herself and Aubrey.

"I don't understand, Chloe!" Aubrey shifted, her gray eyes sparkling with unshed tears of frustration, "When we decided not to parade who we are, that first night we were together, you said you understood not being – out."

"Yeah, to your business, Bree! Not your family! I had no idea that you were going to _lie_ to your family about us, I had no idea that you were going to _hide_ us."

"That don't make any sense, Chloe! The only reason to avoid my clients or my employees finding out about – me – was so that my family didn't find out."

"I don't _understand_!"

"No! You don't, Chloe! Because you're the kind of person who _has_ to be honest about who you are and what you feel, and Chloe, I love that about you but I can't do that like you can."

Beca watched, unsure how to support them both here. She knew she needed to do something but there was nothing that she could say. Instead she just put her hand on the small of either back.

Chloe's lips pursed together, fury radiating off of her like heat from a furnace.

When Chloe still hadn't responded a few seconds later Aubrey spoke again, "Chloe, please don't take this as some sign that I feel one way or the other. I'm proud to be with you, both of you. There's just no room for the real me in my relationship with my family. Please." They could both hear the waver in Aubrey's voice, could see Aubrey moving as though she wanted to touch her, wanted to comfort her in some real way while promising her that she still cared, and yet was terrified of what would happen should her family come outside looking for her. Beca pressed her hand more firmly into her, wanting to help the caged panic that she could feel from her.

Chloe shifted, her face sliding back and forth as she struggled between her usual need to take care of Beca and Aubrey and her anger. "Look, I get why you wouldn't want to introduce me anyway. I make you tired, Bree, and-"

"I don't care, Chloe!"

Chloe's eyes drifted away, staring down the street at nothing.

"Chloe, is this about what we were talking about on the way over?" Beca asked, her voice low.

Chloe didn't answer. Finally she let out a sigh, her head dropping and then shaking in apology. "I'm sorry. Look, it's fine. I'm clearly just being sensitive right now. I don't know why. Look, Becs, stay here for a bit, okay? We have some extra time and I think I forgot something at home anyway. I'm going to go, I have a Megabus to catch. Okay? Have fun you two."

Once again Chloe turned to go but, a gruff noise coming from her throat, Beca stopped her, seeing through her easily. "Chloe! I'm not -" she growled and then stopped herself a little flustered. The fuck was happening today? Chloe could be - a little bit of a princess in that she could be surprisingly sensitive for her generally brash behaviors, but this was surprising her. She had never seen Chloe act slightly irrationally before. "Dude, why are you so upset about the idea of Aubrey and I spending Christmas together? I'm not going to, I have to work. But even if I did it's not like that would matter! It wouldn't change anything!"

"Yes, it would!"

Looking a little stunned, her face softening a bit Aubrey reached for her. "No. No honey, it wouldn't. It wouldn't change how we,"

"Aubrey!" Chloe groaned, pulling away in that way that she always did when they were really fighting, the way that Beca was sure always made things worse. "It _would_ matter! You would be having this beautiful bonding holiday experience! Together! Without me! That would be _another_ thing you two could easily do better without me!"

"What?" Aubrey gasped while Beca, a little fired up, started to speak.

"Chloe," Beca put her hands up before Aubrey could respond, trying to stop this fight from escalating, "even if we did we would be missing you the whole time. That wouldn't make us suddenly closer than we are to you. There's nothing that we do _better_ without you! We just talked about this!"

"This isn't how you think it is. I promise." Aubrey swore. "Please don't be jealous. Beca, I'm not offended that you want to stay home. I didn't know they were coming. Had I known - And Chad didn't take my phone to play BubbleShooter - then I wouldn't have had either of you come over at all! I wouldn't put either of you through this."

"I am _not_ jealous!" Chloe cried, her eyes popping. Her full lips pressed together in annoyance.

"Chloe, I think you are. And I think you're being really unfair," Beca scoffed. Chloe turned on her but Beca didn't back away. Instead she just shrugged, "Look, be mad if you want but I kind of think you are."

Again Chloe's face melted, her eyes brimming, "I know." She shook her head, her hand closing on Beca's and then Aubrey's, "You're right. I know I am. I'm sorry. I know I'm putting unfair pressure on everything right now. I know I kind of have been all week. I think I'm worried and I just hate that it's Christmas, a time for family, and I'll be with my family in Texas and Bree, you'll be here and Beca you'll be alone. You really should stay with Aubrey. No one should be alone on Christmas. I'll be okay. I know it doesn't mean anything like my stupid brain keeps telling me it does. I just hate that it's about to be Christmas and I'm standing here and I can't kiss either of you."

She knew that Chloe was trying to smooth things over and so she smiled, "We could go for a walk."

But of course, as fate would have it, the front door of Aubrey's house flew open and Chad rushed out all but screaming for his sister.

"Chad! Jesus!" Aubrey cried, her hand over her heart.

" _Bumper!_ "

Chloe sighed, her arms crossing again as she glared in the direction of Chad, "You better go before he, I don't know, wets himself. And you're right," she admitted with a grudging nod, "we should wait until we really know what this is to tell anyone anyway."

Okay, wait, what? She glanced at Aubrey and saw that she looked as unsettled as Beca suddenly felt. "Chloe-"

"AUBREY! Dad is WAITING!

Aubrey jumped again, her face going cold. "I'm sorry, I have to go." She looked between them, clearly upset. "Chloe I -" she shook her head, "I'm going to miss you."

Chloe nodded, still seeming a little too stiff.

"Okay." Beca shoved her hands into her pockets, suddenly wishing she could head home and take a fucking nap, "Let's go."


	19. Chapter 19

_**Aubrey**_

* * *

"Right," Aubrey nodded, the phone pressed painfully into her ear, her knuckles white on the arm of her chair, "but can he actually _do_ it?"

It was January sixth, the day that Aubrey had been looking forward to for two whole weeks and yet she couldn't help but to think that this was a fitting way to end the horrible time. She had finally finished Joie De Vivre's rafter issue two days ago, thank god. It had been a long and stupid process. She and Josh McLaughlin had seriously considered the idea of rolling over on Chad. After all, he had been the one to call Josh in the middle of the night, he had been the one to threaten their client with lawyers, he had been the one to ask their client to meet him at a _bar_.

In the end though they had decided that it was smarter to move forward with the idea that the customer had signed the contract as it was. They had lost a client and enough money that the company was back in the red that it had only just emerged from, but at least it was over.

Or at least she had _thought_ it was over.

Chad had gone quiet as she and Josh talked about potentially asking him to take one for the team. He hadn't refused but he had simply gone quiet and that had worried Aubrey. Chad didn't do things like take one for the team, she knew that. She also knew that he didn't sit quietly and listen. He didn't simply nod and hear people out.

She had been right to worry.

Chad had strolled into the office an hour before, had given her a cup of coffee that had been room temperature at best, and informed her that he wanted the business, he wanted her out and that he had a meeting set up that day to interview lawyers in the hopes of finding one and buying her out.

Then he had walked back out again.

She knew what this was. She knew it was his own childish reaction to the way they had handled the rafter issue but still, she had panicked. Which was silly because this was Chad. He was an idiot. He couldn't possibly handle the organization and time that it would take to make a case against her, let alone actually run the business.

It was stupid for her to be scared and yet here she was, sitting in her office when she was supposed to be driving.

Chloe's bus was arriving in an hour. She still had to go by and pick Beca up. But she was glued to the chair.

"Well, I would need to look into a few things, Ms. Posen, but I can tell you right now that it would be a struggle. He does own the majority share."

Aubrey's fingers tightened even more, "I will not let that irrational, poorly behaved, _man-boy_ take my business, Josh!"

"Now, hold on a sec, Aubrey. I said let me look into a few things. I really don't know if Bumper can take this business, I would,"

"Bumper?"

Josh paused, "What?"

"Bumper. You just called Chad Bumper!"

"Oh," Josh laughed, "I guess he's just said it so many times that it finally stuck."

"Uh huh," she stood abruptly, so fast that her chair went rolling into the wall, "over drinks, right?"

"Well,"

"He already talked to you. Didn't he?"

"We did have a conversation, yes, he is the majority share owner for Joie De Vivre and therefore I could not ignore his call. I did not, however, take him on as a client."

Aubrey gasped, unable to believe the conversation she was having.

"Listen, let me do some research and I will get back to you, Aubrey, alright? Free of charge."

"Right." She scoffed. "Just like you're doing for my brother."

"I didn't say,"

She hung up on him.

She couldn't believe this.

She stormed past Chad's desk, wanting to kick it or spit on it or do something vile. She didn't know what.

This was - ugh!

She got to her car and threw her purse in before throwing herself in with equal hostility. She slammed the door closed and swallowed back a hiccup of a sob.

"No!" she chastised, "No, you will not!"

The problem was she had been an absolute mess. She had been the kind of mess that she did not allow herself to be, under any circumstances and that meant that the last two weeks had really been terrible.

Her parents, two aunts, an uncle, seven cousins and a family friend had all stayed in New Orleans for three days. Three very long and very miserable days. Three long and miserable days where Aubrey had been alone. She supposed had it not been Christmas and Chloe had been home then things would have been different. As it was Beca had been swamped with work and Aubrey had been miserable. Yes, much of it was being with her family but most of it, the majority of it, had been her thoughts. Chloe had been so upset before she left for Texas and that was her fault entirely. She had been far too upset and then, she groaned into the empty car as she thought about it again. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

She had made an absolute fool of herself.

The moment her family had left Aubrey had gone to the store and picked up a very large and _very_ expensive bottle of vodka. Drinking her problems away had always been a favored solution to her feelings and problems. So she had sat at her dining room table, slowly drinking down shot after shot as she ran through Chloe's looks, her words, her implication that they didn't know who or what they were as a couple yet as though she wasn't sure she even cared for them - or maybe it was more that she wasn't sure that they cared for her.

She had done that.

Eventually, she had given into drunken tears and had called Beca, who had, in proper girlfriend form, shown up minutes later.

At first, drunken and idiot Aubrey had refused to let her in, insisting that Chloe already thought they didn't like her so she couldn't be alone with Beca.

Once Beca had convinced her that wasn't true and that Chloe had just been upset then Aubrey had let her in - and consequently attacked her.

Beca had tried to talk to her about why she was upset, she had tried to calm her but instead they had ended up on the couch, Beca pinned under her, Aubrey using Beca's thigh as a humping post and Beca totally unable to stop her. She had only just drunkenly realized that this was not her finest hour just before it was too late.

She didn't remember much more after that, but Beca promised that she simply cried for a while about who she had become, about the fact that she, Aubrey, had worked out her family issues back when she was in Boston and not under their thumb. Then, once Aubrey had cried herself out, Beca put her to bed.

It had been - it _was_ humiliating.

The next morning after that she and Beca had talked and they had made an agreement. When Chloe returned, they needed to work hard to be sure that Chloe really understood that she wasn't somehow disappointing them in bed, Beca had been sure that Chloe's insecurity had come from there. Beyond that, they needed to work on their goal of four in one. Perhaps they needed to each nurture their relationship with Chloe a little bit. And above all else, they needed to talk. Beca had thought that perhaps it was about sex, seeing as how they had discussed that just before the fight but neither were sure. They needed to talk and have Chloe tell them what was really on her mind. Was it actually that she was upset about missing Christmas with them? Was it sex? Something else.

Either way, with Chloe's strange behavior just before she left they had agreed that, for now, the best thing to do was to keep their distance. Aubrey hadn't liked that, hadn't liked the idea of missing them _both_ , but she had not been able to offer anything better.

So they had taken a two week break.

And it had been horrible.

Aubrey missed them both so much and while they had texted non-stop and while they had skyped a few times, it just wasn't enough.

And Aubrey, try as she might, hadn't been able to get passed it. She had done this. She had hurt Chloe. Her fear of her family, of what might happen had hurt Chloe. This was _her_ fault.

She pulled up in front of Beca's apartment, her eyes still stinging and had to admit that the way that Beca flew from the apartment and into the passenger's seat made her feel a little better.

"Hi!" Beca grinned, her eyes sparkling.

"Hi!" Aubrey smiled a little shakily and pulled Beca into a hug, holding her a little tighter than was strictly necessary.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Aubrey smiled and gave her a soft kiss, "I just missed you. Both of you."

"Me too." Beca gave her an abashed grin and kissed her again – and then again.

"Come on," Aubrey took her hand, holding it firmly. "Let's go pick up our girl."

They got to the Amtrak station where the Megabus would drop Chloe and decided not to wait in the car, just in case she was early. Hand in hand they headed inside, debating over what to do for lunch or if they even had time for lunch.

"I don't think I can stay as long as I would like to today, Beca. I think I have to go back to work."

Beca frowned, glancing at her and then paused. "What happened?"

Aubrey laughed, a little embarrassed that she was that obvious, "Well,"

A happy little scream behind them made them both turn.

It was hard not to be distracted by Chloe when you hadn't seen her in a while. She jumped up from the spot she was sitting on the bench, her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes shining, her hair wild.

Seeing her Aubrey automatically braced herself, knowing that this was when Chloe would all but run at them, or perhaps go so far as to even jump into one of their arms. She always did when she was excited, her happiness was a physical thing.

Instead though Chloe just stepped up, perhaps a little quicker than normal and wrapped them both in a huge hug. "Hi! Oh my god, how are you? It's been forever."

A little taken aback Aubrey just smiled, nearly laughing at herself when she realized that she was disappointed. Was Chloe not happy to see them?

"Dude, what are you doing here already?"

Chloe shrugged, "My bus got in early and I killed my phone battery playing Bonza. It's okay, I've only been here for a few minutes."

Happy to see her and wanting desperately to kiss her, Aubrey just ran her hand over Chloe's arm, "I'm happy you're home." She smiled at her, pleased when Chloe just beamed back at her. "Can I help you with your bags?"

"Are you kidding?" Beca scoffed, throwing Chloe a dry smirk and slinging one of the many bags onto her shoulder, "I'm thinking we, yeah, the three of us might have to make two trips."

"Oh my god, shut up!" Chloe pushed her but was smiling just the same.

The ride back to Chloe's studio was filled with chatter, Chloe telling them all about baby Miles, all about her siblings, the idea that she was considering of going back in a few weeks later to bask in the quiet and finish up her dissertation, and while they had heard most of it via text or Skype already they both listened, exchanging looks every now and then to share just how happy they both were that Chloe was back, that they were back in one another's presence.

Chloe talked as they parked and as they walked up the stairs, her accent thick as molasses as it had been last time she had spent some time with the Beale clan and every time she got off the phone with one of her family members – as it was when – Aubrey cleared her throat and refused to let herself finish that thought.

It wasn't until she was dropping her bags onto the table and plopping down on her bed that she stopped, "Oh my god, listen to me! I keep going on." She made a little face of distaste that made Aubrey's heart squeeze with affection. "Do you guys want to get some lunch?"

Aubrey apologized, said she was sure that she had to get back to work soon. Chloe nodded, and while she seemed to understand, they all fell into a slightly awkward silence.

Aubrey didn't like the silence. They hadn't been silent like this in months and in the silence her mind began to drift back to her work problems.

"So." Chloe finally said. "How was your Christmas'?"

Aubrey glanced at Beca, the affection she was already feeling bubbling as Beca just gave her usual one shoulder shrug.

"Lonely."

"What?" Chloe asked, her voice sharp. "Oh, Bec! I'm so sorry that -"

Aubrey was shaking her head, though, knowing that Chloe didn't understand. "Chloe, we told you that we were going to wait for you to come home before we saw one another again."

"Just seemed like the better idea," Beca added, fidgeting in her seat.

"What?" Chloe had sat up a little straighter, her eyebrows drawn. "You were serious about that?"

"Incredibly."

"But-" Chloe looked between them and then her face crumbled. She was up and in Aubrey's lap so suddenly that she nearly knocked Aubrey's chair over. "Oh my god, Bree! I'm so sorry about how I acted before I left!" They had been over this already but Aubrey wasn't going to complain as Chloe took up all of her room in her chair, kissing her face and neck. She reached across the room and Beca came, understanding the silent request. Chloe smiled that beautiful, slightly crooked smile that brought out the genuine grin in Beca that Aubrey loved so much. She kissed first Beca, then Aubrey and then cuddled in, one arm around Beca's waist, the other around Aubrey's neck. "I missed you guys so much!" She groaned.

 _This_ was the greeting that Aubrey had been expecting. She smiled, her lips brushing against Chloe's cheek.

"I think I was just, I don't know, freaking out a little bit about what two weeks would do to us so early."

Aubrey closed her arms around both of them, drinking them in. "It didn't do anything, see."

Chloe nodded, kissing Aubrey's temple and then Beca's stomach, "You guys really shouldn't have put everything on hold for me. That's crazy! You don't have to do that, okay?"

"Okay." Aubrey nodded, feeling her phone beginning to ring in her pocket. "Hold on," she pulled it out and gave them both adoring looks before answering.

"Hi, I was wondering if perhaps we could meet for a few minutes. Maybe lunch. I think I found some information that you may be interested in."

"I'm not at the office, Josh." She scowled, not over their conversation this morning.

"Well, meet me and I'll take you out. What do you say? Free lunch on me."

Aubrey agreed because she had to and hung up, unhappy all over again despite the weight of Beca leaning in on her shoulder and Chloe in her lap. "He's courting me," she mumbled to herself.

"Bree?"

Aubrey just shook her head, carefully pushing Chloe off of her lap so she could stand. "I'm sorry, I have to get back to the office. Beca, if you want a ride back then we had better go."

"Is everything okay?"

She opened her mouth to explain and then closed it again, only to open it again, "I'll explain tomorrow. Will you both come over for dinner? We'll give you some we-missed-you TLC, Chloe. I'm sorry that I have to go."

They agreed and with lingering kisses, they both left.

Aubrey was in a very bad state the next day when Beca arrived.

"No Chloe?" She asked, distractedly.

"No, she had to meet up with Stacie so she's taking the streetcar. Aubrey, what's wrong?"

Aubrey just shook her head, knowing that her face looked as though she had been crying. Nothing had changed. Josh didn't have any real information for her, not that she had expected him to. His information had been that Chad didn't have any information, something that Aubrey had assumed. She had let him buy her a large lunch and she had listened while he hinted that he would be the best lawyer in town for her in this situation. She had nodded along and taken a few mental notes. It wasn't until they were leaving though that Josh had said something that had really stuck with her. 'The only real problem I foresee is if your father decides to back Chad instead of you'.

Aubrey had been stunned because she hadn't thought of that.

"Even if he does, though, the only concern is the amount of money he could throw at the situation. He is not a partial owner."

Aubrey had winced. Her father had _plenty_ of money to throw at this if he so chose.

She had been thankful that it was a Friday because she had barely slept, sure that she was going to lose her job. There was no way The General would support her over her brother and the more sure she became the more she had panicked. She had considered delving into the vodka bottle again, had even gone as far as to quickly drink a large glass. Then she had gotten up and taken a long shower, only to be forced to leave it with conditioner still in her hair so that she could make it to the toilet before she was sick. She had thrown up until she was empty, conditioner running down her back and shaking from the cold - and then she had begun to cry.

She had spent her entire life loving this business. What would she do when Chad took it and then burned it to the ground? She had a skill, so she could find another job but the business was a part of her. It had always been a part of her and the more she thought of losing it, simply because she was not her brother, the angrier she got.

"Bree?" Beca asked again when Aubrey had remained silent.

She just shook her head, "I'll tell you about it when Chloe gets here, alright?"

Beca's deep blue eyes were soft, comforting, "Okay, is there, um, is there anything I Can like - do?"

"I-" There was. God, there was. Aubrey needed – she just needed a few minutes where she was not in her head. She needed that magic thing that had been happening to her since she had started an emotional and sexual relationship with them. She needed to stop feeling _so much_ like the Aubrey her parents had created. She needed to touch and to be touched, to be grounded, to be _cared for_...just for a few minutes, but she didn't know how to ask.

"Dude." Beca's eyebrows shot up and she stepped closer, "Whoa."

Aubrey tried to laugh but instead she sank into the hug that Beca offered, cuddling into her as much as she could and taking the comfort she was offering. The hug wasn't quite enough and so Aubrey sighed, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing, hugging Beca in a way that she rarely allowed herself, letting go completely. She drank in her scent, feeling her eyes beginning to prickle.

"It must be bad," Beca said uneasily but she didn't let go.

Aubrey was thankful.

"Come here." Beca pulled her a little so that she could kiss her. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it, right?"

This time Aubrey did smile, studying the way that Beca was looking at her. She was so beautiful. And kind. And wise. And sweet.

Aubrey kissed her again, loving the feeling of Beca's fingers splayed across her cheeks. She kissed her again, just because being that close to Beca felt wonderful and then kissed her again.

And then Beca was kissing her, strong and powerful, one of her signature moments of assertion swelling as Beca pushed her backward, kissing her as though she hadn't kissed her before and yet she had always wanted to.

Aubrey melted into the kiss, her knees instantly and quite literally going weak.

Oh god, this was exactly what she needed.

Where was Chloe? She wanted her to hurry up and arrive. She wanted to bury herself in them for a little while, she wanted to show them how much she missed them. And then after that she wanted to share a glass of wine while she cooked for them and she wanted to talk this out, wanted to hear what they had to say.

God, she had missed them. She had missed them so much. Of course she had, she was crazy about them. More, she was -

Beca sighed, pulling Aubrey's leg up so it wrapped around her thigh, her hand taking a moment to feel before she broke away from the kiss. "Am I allowed to kiss you like this when Chloe's not here?"

"Um," Aubrey tried to think, "I want to take you to bed. Am I allowed to do that?"

Beca paused, her hand which had been slowly inching up Aubrey's thigh in a way that was so distracting had suddenly stopped. Beca's eyes darted for a moment, suddenly growing awkward, "I mean, that's what we need to talk to her about, right?"

"Yes."

"But, you want Chloe to come too, right?"

Aubrey moaned, "Yes! Of course! So much! I just don't want to _wait_ for her. I want her to come and join us."

Beca frowned, thinking about that. "Hold on, I'm gonna text her."

Aubrey nodded and then, when Beca was distracted, leaned forward and began kissing her jaw, her throat, her ear, "Dude," Beca scoffed, not looking up from her screen, "I can't type when you do that."

Aubrey chuckled, her upset from the last twenty-four hours drifting away in Beca's calming presence. She liked that Beca was flustered and so she pushed her hands under her top, tickling her sides as she gently latched onto Beca's ear.

Beca swore, thrusting her phone back into her pocket. "I _think_ that text made sense, but there's also a good chance that I just sent a bunch of letters and symbols."

"Mmm," was all Aubrey said in response, her fingers running this way and that just to get a reaction.

Aubrey let out a grunt when suddenly her hands were above her head, pinned as Beca hovered close by, her eyes dancing with mischief.

"And what do you think you're doing, Beca Mitchell?"

Beca's smirk just grew, her hands sliding down over Aubrey's arms, shoulders, breasts, kissing her again in a way that made Aubrey groan. Beca's phone beeped and she grinned, pulling it back out. "She's almost here."

"Thank god." She was not ready to end this, wanting to be back on top, to have Beca the quivering mess. She pushed and suddenly it was Beca against the wall.

"Nope." Beca shook her head and tried to flip her. Aubrey resisted, her teeth biting into her lip, wanting Beca, wanting them, more than she thought she could bear as she began to tussle with Beca.

They twisted, back and forth, one moment Beca had her pinned, her thigh pressing into Aubrey enough to make her moan, the next Aubrey had Beca on the formal couch, leaning down to purple the soft skin of her stomach. Then with a groan they were on the floor, the breath knocked out of Aubrey and Beca leaning down to take any that was left.

When Aubrey rose in defiance and started toward the kitchen Beca chased after her, catching her and pressing her into the counter so hard that her hipbones whacked into it, making them both moan as Aubrey doubled over it for a moment.

Aubrey was not done though. She turned, a handful of Beca's hair in her hand and pushed her against the refrigerator and Aubrey forgot that she was supposed to wait, that they should keep it simple until Chloe walked through the door. Her body was thrumming, aching so desperately that all she could think was to fix it. She pushed off Beca's shirt, biting a nipple through the cloth of her bra and then yelping when Beca crashed her into the edge of the doorway with a slightly painful thrust. Beca didn't so much pull her shirt off of her as rip it off, not bothering with the pleasantries of things like removing her bra. Instead she just yanked the cup down, catching a barbell in her teeth and giving it a pull.

The sensation was exquisite, turning her anger, her sadness into something delicious. She hadn't even meant to push Beca, forgetting about the struggle. Beca pitched backward with a yelp, falling onto the den couch with a thud.

"Are you okay?" Aubrey asked, not stilling her hands which were pulling off Beca's jeans with a mind of their own.

Beca nodded.

The jeans were impossible to get off, far too skinny at the ankle. She had to give a few yanks before she was treated to exactly what she wanted to see, Beca naked and lying across the couch, her hips caught up on the arm of the couch so that she was all but served up on a platter.

Any moment. Chloe would be here any moment. She only had to wait a few more moments. But the thoughts barely registered as she looked at Beca.

She leaned down, pushing Beca's legs apart and gave her one long, purposeful lick.

" _Fuck!_ " Beca cried, her hands balling in Aubrey's hair.

Aubrey looked down at her, smirking, "I guess I won."

Beca's face went red, "Motherfu-" she spun and suddenly Aubrey was on her back on her bed in the next room over.

She pushed, panting and Beca was on her back, her mouth on Beca's breast.

Aubrey was on her back, Beca's teeth on her throat.

Aubrey gave another shove, feeling herself ready to give in, wanting to give in. She twisted and as she did she thrust into Beca. The effect was instant, beautiful and oh so sexy. Beca's whole body went tense, she gasped, pulling her closer as she surrendered entirely.

It was addicting.

"Oh god, Beca," Aubrey breathed, as she caught her in a rough kiss.

Beca sat up, her breath hitching, her fingers lacing around Aubrey's neck as she kissed her face, shuddering a little as Aubrey's free arm wrapped around her, the long fingers of her other hand beginning to probe. It made Beca's whole body shake, her mouth falling open against her cheek. "Chl-Chloe," she whimpered, imploringly.

Aubrey kissed her softly, reverently, amazed by the beauty of Beca right now, by the all-consuming desire she felt for her, that she felt for the woman they were waiting for. Where was she? She wished that she would hurry up. She wished that she would get here so that she could complete their circle.

She pushed Beca back against the bed, peppering kisses along her jaw, her throat, her breasts while Beca let out soft sounds of contentment, her hips beginning to rise and meet Aubrey.

Behind them the door gave a loud click as it unlocked and then opened slowly, so slowly that for a moment Aubrey was confused and maybe even a little alarmed. "Guys? No one was answering the-"

"Chloe!" Aubrey groaned as Chloe tentatively stepped through, " _Finally!_ " With her free hand she reached out for her, relieved that she was here. "We've been waiting. Baby, come here. We need yo-"

Chloe's face was ghostly white as her eyes took them in, clearly shocked. She gave a little "Oh!" And two pink patches appeared on her cheeks. Chloe looked away as though she had walked in on something she wasn't supposed to see, strangers kissing or someone touching themselves. She looked between them for half a second, her huge eyes unnaturally blue before she muttered, "Shit!" Her hands went to her forehead, half hiding her view and half rubbing her temples, "I forgot," she mumbled a little to herself and then, retracing her steps she was suddenly gone.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Chloe**_

* * *

Oh god, she had been able to hear them! That was the thing that was haunting her. She had been able to hear them!

She had knocked for a few minutes at the front door, worried when no one answered. She had texted Beca again but in her concern she hadn't wanted to wait. She could see Beca's car parked behind Aubrey's so she had started around to the back. She had been sure that they were there.

She had been worried about them.

That thought was laughable now; laughable and humiliating.

She had gotten halfway around the house and…she could hear them, hear the sounds that she was still learning and yet knew so well.

She had paused her step, sure she was hearing wrong.

Was that – and then her mind had stopped processing.

She had instead gone to the backdoor and unlocked it.

She had been able to hear them.

She had been able to see them there.

Without her.

She had to go.

She turned, not sure what she had mumbled and she had just walked in a straight line, too scattered to realize that she had walked through Aubrey's fenceless backyard and into the next.

She had to go.

She had to get out of there.

She pushed through the bushes of the neighbor's yard and out onto the street where she hailed a cab, desperate to get away from their noises.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys! Early chapter for you! I'll be up in the mountains on Sunday and I'm not sure I'll have the internet. So here it is! See you again on the 13th!

* * *

Every now and then I have to say something that makes me feel foolish for saying it, but needs to be said. This is gonna be one of those times! I need to remind my awesome guest reviewers (no sarcasm intended) that **if you ask me questions while posting as 'guest' ... I can't answer them**. Send me your questions via tumblr, or AO3, or just sign in. So, sorry to all the questions from last week, I'm not ignoring you but I can't answer them!

* * *

 _ **Aubrey**_

* * *

They started on foot, sure that she couldn't have gotten far, Aubrey calling her phone every few minutes.

Aubrey was concerned when they didn't find her on her street, worried when she was nowhere to be found between the house and the streetcar stop and downright panicked when she realized that Chloe's phone was suddenly going to voicemail. She had thought this was bad but maybe it was actually worse than that.

Her heart ached. This was completely her fault. They were supposed to wait. She had been the one who had pushed things a little too far. She had made this happen! She couldn't seem to stop hurting Chloe. Oh god, she had done it again!

"Okay," Beca shifted in place, her hands in her back pockets, her shoulders were bouncing and her head was twitching this way and that a little too much. "This can't be that bad, right? Like, she's upset and probably kind of jealous but like, overall, this can't be that bad. She just needs to, I don't know, lick her wounds or whatever for a minute, right? Be mad at us for a minute?"

Aubrey stared at Beca, feeling that noxious, disgusting panic rise. " _How_ could we lose her?" She snapped, "She's on foot! Where the hell could she have gone?" Guilt churned in her stomach, mixing with her fear and she felt herself break into a cold sweat.

"Well, clearly she didn't go back to the streetcar."

"I think we should go to her studio. Right? Beca? I mean, we can't just leave her to stew. I mean, is it worse to let her stew or to ignore her obvious request to be left alone?"

"What do you mean?"

"If she wanted to talk then she wouldn't have run off, Beca!"

Beca just shook her head, "I don't know. Let's just go."

They drove to the Quarter, both jittery and both whining one over the other about the fact that they had clearly made a mistake.

"I just don't understand why she left." Aubrey kept saying, not because she didn't understand the look she had seen on Chloe's face but because she didn't really know what else to say. She had messed up. They had messed up. This was all her fault. She sniffed, realizing she was close to tears.

Beca's head whipped around, taking her in. "Dude, we'll find her. I'll call her again, okay? Please don't -"

"I'm not crying!" Aubrey snapped, her hands like iron on the steering wheel. She felt so bad. This _was_ so bad.

Beca just nodded at her, not buying it for a second and hit the button to call Chloe. The phone went straight to voicemail. "Hey, Chlo," Beca started, shifting in her seat, her head falling back, "Look, we clearly made you really uncomfortable and we're sorry. We didn't mean to do that like even a little bit. We just got a little overly excited, or, I don't know, whatever. But uh, can you please just all us back and let us know where you are or that, I don't know, you're safe or something and not kidnapped by a pack of homeless teenagers?" Beca looked at her, waiting to see if she had anything to add.

Not sure if it was wise Aubrey took the phone, "Chloe, I'm _sorry_." She sniffed. "This is entirely my fault. Can you please talk to us? We're going to come by the studio because we're worried, alright? Just - please, answer the door or call us back or anything. I'm so _sorry._ "

They knew that the odds were they had beaten Chloe home - if she was indeed on her way home that was. Still they rang the buzzer a few times, calling the dead phone again before they decided to wait.

Aubrey knew she was a little bit of a wreck. Between this and what had happened before Christmas Aubrey knew that she wasn't handling this well. How was it she kept hurting the sweetest of them?

"Beca." Aubrey had pushed on her large sunglasses to hide her face but she knew that her tears of worry were not invisible to her girlfriend, "I'm sorry." Perhaps she was a little high strung today.

"What?" Beca turned, her eyebrows high, "Why?"

"I did this."

"Uh, it literally takes two to tango, Bree."

"Yes, but,"

"Dude, just stop, okay?"

The crispness in her voice Aubrey knew was her worry but it sliced at her anyway. Beca had never once spoken to her like that. There was too much happening in her life just then. She was feeling too much. Anger, hot and wild whipped through her, followed by a numbing blanket of hurt and she turned on her heels. She didn't even know where she was going. She wasn't going back to her car, that was in the opposite direction. She wouldn't just leave either. She just needed to be alone for a moment. She needed to not be there with Beca. She heard Beca calling to her but she just marched as quickly as she could down the block, her arms around herself. She hit the corner and, for no real reason she turned, following the block back around.

It wasn't until she was on the opposite side of the block from Chloe's studio that she stopped, leaning against a pole and doing her best to gather herself.

She wasn't crying. She _wasn't_ but tears were pouring down her face anyway. She was just so stressed. She couldn't believe how weak she was. She couldn't believe how selfish. If she had just waited five minutes.

She had messed up. She had completely messed up but that was okay.

She would fix it. Of course she would fix it.

It would be alright.

She felt her back straightened, her stomach turning to hard lead. She would simply take care of this. She would fix it with Chloe. She would apologize. She would be honest about how much of a selfish creep she was.

And then she would go home and she would gather all information she could against her brother and she would handle that as well.

It was all going to be fine.

She would fix it all.

It took her another second of deep breathing before she was able to stroll briskly back around the block, her steps prim, her face controlled, her back straight.

Beca jumped up as soon as she saw her, having been squatting and leaning against Chloe's metal gate. She fidgeted in place for a moment, her hands going to her pockets and then to her hair and then back to her pockets, her face anxious. "I wasn't sure you were coming back. I'm sorry, that was just -"

"You're worried." Aubrey gave a nod, "I understand."

Something in Beca's face fell at her words and suddenly her eyes were wary, "Right. Okay then."

"Nothing?" Aubrey asked, trying the metal gate that led up to Chloe's studio once more.

"No."

Aubrey nodded again. "Then I suppose we wait."

Going home was not easy, not at all. Going home and seeing her rumpled sheets, thinking about how the day was supposed to go was even harder.

Chloe had only just come home from Texas. What had she been thinking? She was so selfish! She was so disgustingly selfish! And - and a small part of her was angry. They _had_ been waiting for Chloe. They had wanted her there. Why had she run from them simply because she had been making love to Beca? _Four in one._ She _knew_ that. Four in one. If she had been uncomfortable then why hadn't she _talked_ to them. A small part of her was even hurt that Chloe had run and that only made her angrier with herself.

The next day Beca picked Aubrey up and they once again headed down to the Quarter. Chloe's phone had been on since that morning, no longer going straight to voicemail, and yet neither had gotten through.

They stood outside of her gate, calling up to her window, calling her phone frustrated that Chloe was behaving this way. Yes, clearly they had hurt her but disappearing wasn't the way to handle that.

"If we could just freaking get up to her door!" Beca growled as they returned to the car. Aubrey nodded. The problem was that they couldn't. Chloe was the only one that lived up there which meant there were no neighbors to let them in, the door was secure - it was drunk proof even.

"Beca, I don't know what to do."

The smaller woman just shook her head, "Maybe we should go to her work? Like, make sure at least that she's fucking okay? Talk to Stacie? I mean, her phone is recharged or on or whatever now, right? So, she didn't get hurt or something. She's actively not talking to us? She isn't in a ditch somewhere? But we should go to her work just to be sure, right?"

Aubrey frowned, imagining what she would do and how she would feel if someone were to do that to her. "I don't know, Beca."

She was ready to change her mind three days later though.

They had gone from worried to panicked. Beca, without Aubrey's consent, had sent Stacie a text message, promising she didn't have to tell her where she was but just wanting to know that she had seen her. 'You know, just in case we think she's mad at us but really she was kidnapped'. Stacie's response had been short and clipped, only saying: 'I've seen her. Leave her alone.'

Aubrey had been mad when Beca had first told her and then she had crumpled with relief, unaware of exactly how worried about that she had been. Beca had been mad though, ranting that Stacie was trying to keep Chloe from them because of her crush.

That had alarmed Aubrey. She hadn't known that Stacie had feelings for Chloe. That had sent a new and unwelcome worry wiggling and squirming in her stomach. Had Chloe moved on with Stacie?

They had a big problem and they both knew it. The question only was how big of a problem was it and when would they be able to talk it out.

In the meantime, Chad had transformed himself. Suddenly he was wearing ties when he came to work, his stupid boyish hair slicked back. He had, apparently, found himself a lawyer and with that information Aubrey had finally grudgingly hired Josh. Her apprehension at hiring someone had also let her know that she had been hopeful that her brother would stomp around for a while, angry and then would let it go.

Apparently he was on the warpath.

That wasn't the worst thing ever. She was confident that at the end of all of this she would come out victorious, with her brother groveling to hold on to his job and the majority share owner of Joie De Vivre Paint and Renovations.

Still, it was a pain.

Four days more and Aubrey and Beca were in sure of what they were supposed to do now. They had both individually gone to Basin Street, just hoping that perhaps they could speak to her for a moment and convince her to have a conversation with them, worried that perhaps both of them together was a little intimidating or maybe too much. But when Beca had gone Chloe had been out on a tour and when Aubrey had gone Stacie had insisted that Chloe wasn't there - even though she had been sure she had seen a dash of titian hair disappearing into the back office a moment before she walked through the door.

Aubrey was beside herself. She couldn't believe this. Was this it? Was she simply going to refuse to ever speak to them again? Should they stop trying?

The time that she and Beca spent together was beginning to feel heavy with their confusion and questions so when her phone chimed that Saturday she had nearly cried to see Chloe's name at the top of the text message.

"Hi you two, I'm sorry I've been MIA. Can we meet at Spitfire coffee later and talk?"

Aubrey's fingers shook as she typed back, "Yes! Please! Chloe's we're so sorry! I'm so happy to hear from you."

"When do you want to meet?" Beca typed back a few minutes later.

"Are you both free to meet in an hour?"

"At a coffee shop?" Beca texted back.

"Yes."

"Ok."

They set up a time and, both excited and nervous, Aubrey began to get ready.

Aubrey was humming as she strolled into the coffee shop, her unusually tall, unusually pointed stilettoed heels clicking sharply on the wooden floor. She had done her best to _be_ her best today. She was in her best outfit, the one she only wore when she wanted to impress; a pair of straight, tailored tan slacks of the best material and her favorite white silk blouse with the only pair of designer heels she had ever spent an absorbent amount of money on. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight and low chignon, her makeup exact. She was Aubrey on her game. This was Aubrey in her power pose. She knew that she was lucky that Chloe was willing to see them, to see _her_ and she was not going to let her sloppiness get in the way of that.

She scanned the small coffee shop, her purse over her arm and saw that neither had arrived yet. She ordered a decaf coffee, sure that her already racing heart couldn't take the caffeine and then took a seat in the far corner beside the window. She watched people go by, feeling her heart warming and clenching. The day was beautiful. As December had come and gone so had the harshest of the New Orleans winter and that day it was a bright, cool sixty five.

She couldn't help but to think that the beauty of the sky was a good omen. This was going to go well. Chloe would see that they - that she - was sorry, that she had never intended to hurt her, that she had behaved rashly. They would have a good conversation, in which Aubrey would be able to remind her that being upset was totally normal and that most people who were new to this went through phases of jealousy until they really sank into the new type of relationship. She would remind her of the night after the tour when Aubrey had seen the other two almost kissing and had become enraged. She would remind Chloe that next time she was upset she just needed to talk to them, that communication was the key, that _all_ of her research said so. She would remind her that they were crazy about her and, if she was willing, eager to put this behind them. Once all of that was done she thought that then this was the perfect place for she and Beca to have that talk with Chloe that they had planned, to start showing her just how much they cared. Perhaps she would even leave early and give Beca and Chloe the time to work on their one of four.

She was pleased that this was nearly over. Chloe had just been gone for two weeks and Aubrey had missed her and Beca alike; she had missed them with the soul crushing ache of a teenage girl. It had made her feel silly and perhaps a little foolish which had been fun in a way, but she was ready to see the end of it.

One afternoon, one hour together since then had certainly not been enough and with everything happening at work she was ready to have life back to normal, perhaps even better.

She watched a young couple stroll by the window, both girls adorable in their rainbow tee shirts, holding hands and smiling.

Aubrey's heart gave a little excited flutter.

Yes, they would be even better after this. Stronger.

Beca arrived a few minutes after Aubrey sat down and while Aubrey had done her best to look her best, Beca looked like she was very hungover. Her hair was slightly frizzy like she hadn't bothered to brush it or had been running her fingers through it constantly for a while. It fell around her face, half over it and while Aubrey watched Beca had to puff, trying to swipe it away. The aviator sunglasses she was wearing were large, unusually large for her tastes and hid most of her face. Just in case she didn't look enough like the Unabomber, she had a small tight gray hoodie on that she had pulled up over her head. She saw Aubrey, gave her a tight smile before she went to the counter and ordered a drink.

"You're looking kind of too cute for this, don't you think?" Beca grumbled, slumping into the seat beside her.

"What do you mean?"

Beca just looked at her for a long time and then shook her head. "Have you heard from her? She still coming?"

"Not yet," Aubrey frowned, really unhappy that Beca was choosing today to be a surly teenager. They needed to apologize. "And of course she's still coming. Why wouldn't she? Beca, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling alright?"

Beca shrugged.

"Are you sick?" Aubrey reached over and tried to feel Beca's forehead but Beca just pushed away with a glare.

"Beca," Aubrey reached over and took her hand, "this is just like Christmas, right? It's perhaps even an extension of it. She was upset before and we talked. We talked while she was gone and we talked a little bit when she came back. Then it was fine, right?"

"For like two seconds, dude. You realize she was only back for like a day, right?"

She had realized that, of course. She thought that might have been part of the problem in truth. They should have been more sensitive. "Yes. We were just a little over enthusiastic because we hadn't seen one another, that is all. I was having a bad day. We will talk through this. I'm sure of that. We will talk through it."

"Aubrey."

But Aubrey shook her head.

They just needed to talk.

Chloe walked in a few minutes later and, with a shy smile at the barista, skipped ordering a drink and started their way. She too didn't quite look her best. Her hair, usually so carefully styled, was pulled back into a ponytail and in a large sweatshirt and jeans. "Hey guys." Her face was a little gray, making Aubrey wonder if they had taken her silence for upset when in reality she had actually just been ill.

Aubrey smiled and gave her hand a quick squeeze once she sat down across from them, "It's really nice to see you, Chloe."

Chloe just nodded, her smile small as she glanced at Beca and then away, skipping around the coffee shop as though the decor interested her. Aubrey watched her do it with a slight frown, fully aware that this was Chloe's preferred coffee shop and that she came here constantly. She supposed, when she thought about it, that Chloe must be nervous too. Resolving fights were always awkward.

There was silence between them for a few beats and though Aubrey knew that this was a moment to be silent, this was a moment not to push forward and control the situation, she couldn't keep her mouth from running away from her. "We've been so worried," she admitted. "I'm sorry that we contacted Stacie, we were just concerned that maybe you had been hurt or perhaps had never gone home. I'm so glad you wanted to meet. Chloe, we feel horrible." She wanted Beca to jump in, to agree but Beca only sat silently, her fingers playing with a packet of sugar. "Truly, we are both so sorry. We never meant to hurt you or to upset you. We, well," but she hadn't quite figured that out yet. What she and Beca had been doing was supposed to be okay. So she wasn't sure exactly what to say. "We have so much to discuss."

Chloe was nodding along with her, had started so early that Aubrey wasn't entirely sure that Chloe had heard her. "I know. I do, I know that you both would never want to hurt me. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just disappeared, that wasn't," she shook her head but didn't finish. "I just needed some time to think."

"We get that." Beca gave a nod and Aubrey glared at her. Even she could hear the slightly dark tone of her voice.

Chloe nodded too, looking to Beca and then quickly away.

Aubrey watched as Chloe sat for a minute, studying the group of boys who were just outside the window. They were very loud and clearly very drunk and Aubrey could see why they drew the eye - only -

It was strange, usually her nausea started slowly, usually it was a light trickle that eventually turned into a thick, disgusting beast.

That wasn't how it was today. Instead, a wave of understanding crashed over her and all at once her stomach went slick, so fast that she nearly clamped her hand across her mouth.

Beca was right.

That was clear.

Beca was right and with that understanding her face fell into a grimace, her stomach flipping sickly.

She pressed her lips together. No matter what happened next she would not allow herself to be sick. She wouldn't. She -

Outside one of the boys laughed and then was violently drunkenly ill into the trashcan, the other boys holding up their hurricane glasses and screaming for the boy as though his drunken state was a trophy.

All three women winced, Beca and Chloe shooting Aubrey nervous glances.

She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating hard.

She would not.

She was stronger.

She would not.

The silence was heavy, loaded thickly and that didn't help.

"Are you alright, Aubrey?" Chloe asked, her voice soft.

"Yes. I'm - I will be just fine."

Beca sank a little lower in her seat, pulling her legs up so that the heels of her Nike high tops pressed into her butt. She had taken off her sunglasses when she had come inside and now, perhaps to cover the fact that she looked a little like she might cry, she slid them back on.

Surely this was not – surely they had to be wrong.

"I'm sorry, Beca." Chloe whispered. "I just can't."

Beca gave one long nod, a simple, "Yeah," popping from her.

Heat filled Aubrey, making her stomach worse. She looked between them, ready to snap, "Will someone please tell me what is going on?" She knew, of course she knew. She wasn't stupid. But she refused to accept it, refused to acknowledge it until someone said it out loud. It wasn't real unless someone said it out loud. Perhaps she should just get up and leave. After all, _it wasn't real unless someone said it out loud_. "Because I refuse to understand until you say it, Chloe!"

Chloe swallowed thickly, her lip beginning to tremble.

Aubrey hated that tremble. It made her want to reach out, it made her want to cuddle her and hold her and kiss away the unhappiness. And Beca - why wasn't Beca fighting? She was supposed to be on her team and they couldn't just give up like this! They were barely getting started! How could it end before it ever started? How could she lose this, lose them before she had ever been allowed to enjoy it? Aubrey - she still had so much to give them. She still had so much love. She didn't understand how this was happening.

"Guys," Chloe started, her eyes downcast, "I'm sorry. This just...this isn't for me."

But how could she _know that_?

"Thank you for this, really. You both," Chloe's lips trembled harder and a tear slid down her cheek, "you both are _so_ amazing but I have to step away now."

"I don't understand," Aubrey hissed. She felt heat radiating from her chest and she realized...that she was embarrassed. She was very embarrassed. She glanced at the table beside them, the one filled with college students and wondered idly if they could tell that they - she - was getting dumped. How was she supposed to fight this if she could barely talk about it here? "Couldn't be have this talk in private? Why are we here at a coffee shop? Shouldn't we be-"

Beca scoffed, interrupting Aubrey flatly, "Bree, public breakups are so the person doesn't have to deal with the other one - or in this case ones - being too upset. Haven't you ever been dumped before?"

"Beca!"

"What?" Beca shot back at Chloe, her face impassive. "Isn't that what's happening? Isn't that why we're here?"

"It's not that."

"So you're not breaking us up?"

Chloe's eyes fell, speaking to the top of the table instead of them. "It's not breaking up. We're, I don't know," her eyes, do dull and dim right now, shifted back out the window. "We didn't get far enough for a break up, right? We were just – whatever."

Beca gave a snort, "Fucking news to me."

Aubrey frowned. Chloe hadn't…did that mean she hadn't seen them as her girlfriends? That thought was shocking, utterly confusing but Chloe continued and Aubrey didn't get a chance to focus on that confusion when another came so quickly."

"I just," Chloe said, "I can't stand the idea of hurting you two. That's why we're here."

"But you are!" Aubrey growled in a hoarse whisper. "Walking away now because you're mad at us isn't going to help anyone, it's just going to hurt us. All three of us. Chloe, we need to _talk_. We need to research this and create an open dialogue, not go running-"

"No, Bree."

Aubrey's words froze on her tongue, shock choking her for a moment.

"We don't need to talk. I," Chloe's head was shaking again, "I just can't do this."

"You can't be serious! Damn it, Chloe, don't do this! We care about you!"

"You don't need me."

"What?"

Beca scoffed again, her head turning to gaze out of the window.

Chloe glared at Beca for a long moment, her lips pressing into a thin line, her eyes intense as they began to fill again. "You said you were waiting for me. You _said_ you had been waiting for me but you weren't. You were fucking."

A few people from the table next to them began to laugh, glancing over. Aubrey glared back, shooting fire at them and the college students ducked away.

"You were fucking Beca." Chloe said again. "You didn't need me."

"That's not true."

"Oh come on, Bree! Please! You don't. You two are the couple. I make you tired, Aubrey, I'm too much for you. Beca, I-"

"Okay, you now what?" Beca's legs suddenly fell, her feet slapping on the ground in her abrupt frustration. "Let's just cut the shit here. Is it that you think Bree and I were together from the beginning? Or when you were gone? No?"

Aubrey's stomach clenched. She hadn't thought of that. Did Chloe think that? Surely, not.

"No." Chloe said in a small voice. "I believed you."

Beca didn't look like that answer made her feel any better. "Then just tell us why the hell you still think we don't really want you after, like, everything."

Chloe's lip trembled and another tear fell. Aubrey knew that Beca had never spoken to Chloe that way, she had never spoken to either that way and it stung Aubrey vicariously. Chloe looked between them, her eyes lingering on their faces and then she began to cry in earnest despite the fact that they were in the middle of the cafe. "I -"

"Chloe-"

"You don't _understand_! I believe in _love_ , Beca. I always have. I've been waiting for it my whole life and this isn't what love is supposed to look like."

"So we can't love you because there is two of us?"

"Love is _belonging_ to someone! Totally and completely and them belonging to you!"

Dazed Aubrey just watched, feeling as though someone had reached in and nicked her heart. Slowly, as though her neck had rusted over, she turned to look at Beca who looked right back. She looked just as baffled as Aubrey felt and that was good, that helped a little. Because Aubrey had thought that they _did_. Hadn't she been calling them her girlfriends? Wasn't that – hadn't that been true? Hadn't they belonged to one another? Well, perhaps not yet but she had thought they were on their way. Of course they were. This _thing_ they were doing was powerful. They had started this because of the intensity of their feelings for one another. They had started this because there had been no other choice. When you have _no other choice_ then aren't you - each others from the very beginning?

This was absurd!

Chloe was crying hard now and it ripped at Aubrey. Couldn't she just hug her? They had been friends once too, right?

"When I walked in on you two I realized that I couldn't do that. I couldn't belong to either of you. This isn't what happily ever after is supposed to look like you guys, and I'm waiting for my happily ever after. I need that. I've been waiting too long and this can't be it."

"Chloe, we _were_ waiting for you. We do want you. You _do_ belong to us! You're ours! You belong _with_ us! Yes," she was speaking desperately now, too fast in her haste to make her understand. "We got carried away, we both admit that but we want you. We want you so much. We care about you so much. Please don't just throw this away."

Beca's small "Oh," cut Aubrey off. Even from behind her glasses they could see her surprise. " _Oh_." She said again, her eyes turning back to Chloe. "You're still _waiting_ , aren't you _?_ "

"What?" Aubrey asked, a little perturbed that she had been interrupted.

" _'You're the couple.'_ " She hissed. "You _just_ said it! After all of this time you're still waiting to see which one of us it will be. You weren't actually in this with us. With both of us, I mean."

She still didn't understand but clearly Chloe did.

"Oh come on, Beca." Chloe gave a dry laugh, her shoulders jerking a little, her lip twisting almost as though she were making a joke, "This has been so great but we all knew that it would end with one of us falling away."

"No," Beca suddenly barked, her voice firm as though she were scolding a child who was about to touch the hot stove, "we didn't know that!"

"Beca, please."

Aubrey was so horrified that Chloe's sob didn't even reach her heart this time. She had still been waiting? She had never seen Beca's face look so cold, she had never seen her so formidable. She had been waiting? Her chest ached, burned as though it had suddenly been filled with dry ice. Chloe had still been waiting to see which one of them did not fit. She hadn't taken this leap with them. She was just having fun until two of them could get more serious and leave the other behind. She hadn't cared about them at all – or perhaps there was simply one of them that she hadn't cared about.

Chloe's mouth popped open, "That's not true! I was waiting, yes, but -"

"But what?" Aubrey asked, her voice clipped. She felt stupid. She felt like a fool. How had she missed that? How had she missed that Chloe had been waiting? That was - she didn't care which one had held Chloe's attention more or less or which one it had been that Chloe had thought might be the one to drop away - that was horrible. That was atrocious. That was - it felt like a huge betrayal. To both of them.

She felt her eyes beginning to sting and she sucked in her cheeks, biting them to keep the tears away. "But _what_ , Chloe?" She was hurt. She couldn't believe how hurt she was.

Chloe was looking at her. She was looking at her like she couldn't believe the tone. "I-" And then Chloe was shaking her head, fast, tears flying. She reached into her pocket, dumped something on the table and was up, quickly moving between the chairs and out of the door.

Aubrey rose, equal parts furious and desperate. That was not the end of the conversation! She went to follow, to chase her down and insist she finish, that she couldn't just walk away like that.

Before she could take a step she felt a hand on hers, restraining her. She looked down, ready to take the hand off at the wrist but stopped at the look on Beca's face, at the desolate blankness she saw there. She was staring at what it was Chloe had dropped.

It was the keys to Aubrey's house.

Aubrey sat back down before Beca had to ask her.

She felt like her brain was stuck, wheels turning and turning in the mud but not getting anywhere.

Chloe had just broken up with them.

Chloe had just _broken up with them_.

Chloe had broken up with them because she had never taken them seriously anyway.

Not like Aubrey had.

Not like she was sure Beca had.

Chloe was gone.

She turned, her mouth hanging open to look at Beca but the smaller woman wasn't looking at her. As a matter of fact Beca was back to the pose she was in earlier, pain radiating off of her as she played with the rip on her knee.

"She just broke up with us."

Beca sighed deeply, "Yeah." Her hands dropped to her sides, "Yeah, she did."

"I can't believe she just dumped us." She blinked, unsure about whether or not she could keep the tears back.

"Yeah, well, what did you expect from a coffee shop, Aubrey?"

She knew that Beca was snapping at her but somehow she was still to numbed with shock to feel its sting. "I thought. I mean, am I crazy? I thought that we were in this together."

Beca just shrugged and, turning her head as though that would prevent Aubrey from seeing, she reached under her sunglasses and wiped briskly under her eye.

 _And that was it._

The realization ghosted up out of the depths of her and she realized, that was it. In one quick stroke that she hadn't been able to stop she had lost two women.

Aubrey had always thought that a broken heart was a metaphorical thing, something that only poets spoke of but just then she could feel it. She could feel her heart ripping in two and it hurt, just like the poets said it did. Her heart, inside of her chest, hurt. Its pump slowed, giving a muddy whap before trudging on along its way.

Tears began to slide and she couldn't stop them.

How could this have just happened? How had she lost everything she had cared about since June? At at once. In one five minute long conversation. She had lost everything that had filled her life since June. Everything that had made her feel happy, that had made her feel whole again.

She searched for words, unsure of what she should say now.

Chloe hadn't given her the chance to say goodbye and she was angry about that but she was also a little relieved. How did you say goodbye? How was she going to say goodbye?

"Beca?" She reached out to touch the closed off and distant woman, terrified that it was already too late, that she had missed her chance.

"We need to go."

"What?"

Beca was already up and out of her seat, moving quickly toward the door.

Aubrey followed, her heart pounding. She just wanted to feel her one more time. "Beca, wait!"

Beca stopped, her arms swinging, her feet all but trying to continue to take her way despite the fact that she was standing in place.

She reached over and, not really caring if they were being watched now, she wrapped her arms tightly around her, pleased when Beca clung back, aching when Beca gave just one small sob.

"How can she think we don't care about her?" Beca cried into her shirt, her fists balling into either side of the fabric.

She didn't know. It didn't make any sense to her.

"I will take her to meet my family! I promise!" Aubrey cried. "I don't understand! I don't understand how she could think we don't love her? Beca," she pushed Beca away so she could see her face, "I would have introduced you to my family. If that's what you wanted, I promise I would, I just needed some time."

Beca just sniffed into her shirt.

"This is my fault."

"God!" Beca shoved away from her, starting down the street again.

"What?"

"This isn't your fault, Bree! It pisses me off that you think so."

"Beca, I don't understand." She didn't understand anything except these were her last few moments. She was out of time. "Beca."

"What, Bree?" Beca cried, wiping under her sunglasses again. "Leaving. Needs to be happening pretty much now. Like, now, now. I really want to be less on the street where everyone is watching me." She glared viciously at a woman who was looking at her with concern.

Oh god, this was it.

She couldn't process that. She felt jittery and on edge, her head was swimming a little bit. She wanted to reach for her and grab her, to not let her go, to not let her leave.

She didn't have a choice.

She took the two steps that brought her into Beca's personal space, her throat aching as she swallowed back the tears as hard as she could.

Carefully she cupped Beca's jaw, her vision blurring with unshed tears and carefully, delicately kissed her. She memorized the feeling of her hands on her arms, she memorized the brush of her hair in the breeze, the taste of her chapstick.

And then, because she had no other choice, she turned around and walked away.

* * *

Hey all. I've been informed that this chapter posted badly and a few things repeated themselves. I know about it, but I since I'm in a car driving, I can't fix it for a few days. Try to look past it and I'll fix it asap. Thanks! And thanks for reading!


	22. Chapter 22

Authors note: I don't usually like to do the whole song thing in fics. If I'm going to then I like to write the song myself but after my last Bechloe fic, I was not about it. I know that was a full song, but damn. So. The song that I am referencing/Aubrey is listening to: Blue October's 'Amazing'. It's one of those that rips at my soul with its beauty as well as its heartbreaking sadness. I put up a link this morning on my Tumblr if y'all are interested in listening to it.

* * *

 _ **Aubrey**_

* * *

 _"How am I supposed to breathe?"_

She had never done this. This behavior, these types of actions had never been her. She had never been given the luxury of something as self-indulgent as this.

" _I try to relax, I touch your still frame."_

She had always been the one to put herself aside, not because she wanted to but because she was trained to, the way a circus monkey is trained to jump through a fiery hoop. It was the Posen way, especially for the Posen women. She had learned that at a young age.

 _"So I can watch you closer_

 _And study the ways I believe I belong to you."_

This wasn't who Aubrey was.

 _"To you._

 _I'm sorry."_

And yet she couldn't seem to do anything else, not since she had left that café.

Her eyes glanced over the feast of the meal she had ordered the day before and then never bothered to touch. The discarded piles of pita and baba ganoush disgusted her now, as did the empty bottles of wine, the deep red that had trickled down the outside of the second bottle staining the wood of her table. It disgusted her, not because the food was disgusting but because she was disgusting for leaving them.

Still, she sat instead of clearing them away, curling up into the corner of her den sofa and wrapping her sweater around her more tightly.

 _"Can you pretend I'm amazing?_

 _I can pretend I'm amazing."_

Her eyes closed, letting the chorus wash over her again, her tears dry, her body too tired to make more.

 _"Instead of what we both know._

 _Instead of what we both know._

 _I cut to the punchline baby._

 _Can we pretend I'm amazing?_

 _Instead of what we both know."_

This was her own fault. She should have treated Chloe better. She should have begged her not to give up. She should have apologized. She should have tried to convince Beca that walking away did not have to happen. She should have tried to convince her that Chloe breaking them up did not have to mean the three of them.

She should have treated her brother better. She should have tutored him when he fell behind in high school so that he could have his own career by now.

She should have stayed away.

She shouldn't have left Boston. She should have known she would lose her power. She should have known that she couldn't live happily and healthily under her father's thumb. She should have just stayed away. The work there hadn't exactly been a passion project for her, but it had been steady.

 _"And now our history is for sale._

 _And for that I apologize."_

She reached out and clicked the song off, suddenly no longer able to handle it's narrative. It was alright. She had been listening to it for an hour or more.

She hadn't even meant to find it. She had simply put on a mix that Beca gave her, one of her own that Aubrey had liked and this was track number seven. And now she couldn't stop. She reached out and turned the song back on, starting it from the beginning.

 _"How am I supposed to breathe?"_

It was a good question. How was she supposed to breathe?

She had lost everything that mattered to her in under a year. Her grandmother. Her life in Boston. Her separation from her family. Her girlfriends, the first she had allowed herself to have in _thirteen_ years. Though, perhaps that wasn't true. Were they really her girlfriends if they didn't consider themselves to be?

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around to hear it…

Thirteen years.

They had been the first loves she had allowed herself in an even longer amount of time. There was a good chance that she would lose her business soon.

She would have to start over.

She was too old to start over.

No, that wasn't true. She wasn't old, she only felt old. And she had just started over less than a year before.

She was too tired to do it again.

And so, she was wallowing. She was wallowing like she had never allowed.

The song cut off and instead of the blue-toned words she heard her ringtone.

She wished she hadn't dived for her phone. She wished that she hadn't hoped. But she had. And her heart ripped apart all over again when she saw the word 'Daddy' on her screen.

She put the phone down and hid under her sweater. He had called three times now and she knew what it was about. She didn't want to have that talk with him. She didn't want to hear that he didn't support her, that he thought she was childish or petulant for holding out and refusing to give up the business.

She was already lonely enough.

God. Her head fell back to the cushion as the ringing stopped. She was so lonely.

She started the song over and just listened until her phone gave a beep.

She didn't want to listen to the voicemail, knew it would only be damaging and yet she played it.

" _Aubrey Anne Posen_ , avoiding your problems is the work of a weak man. If you don't call me young lady so we can talk this out then I will be forced to move forward without your information. You have twenty-four hours. Straighten up, girl."

She had thought that the ability to make more tears had broken within her over the last few days. She was sure of it, but at that thought she found a few more were able to spring free.

She was so lonely.

Distantly she heard a knock at the door but she didn't move. She had no interest in whatever it would be. Instead she just turned up the song again.

She couldn't allow herself much more of this. She knew that.

The knock came again, this time much louder, rough and insistent pounding, angry pounding.

Had she done something?

There was no way her brother was here, right? Chad had over the last bit of time, become more and more distant. She wasn't surprised. It was as though he had taken their situation and found it offensive. He had begun to treat her as though it had been her idea to start this process and that idea offended him.

Still…it could be Chad. She could see him forgetting that they weren't speaking and showing up as though everything was normal, wanting to talk about a house they were working on.

Or it could be her father.

That thought got her up. If it was Chad or The General then he would come in and he would see that her house was a complete mess. She didn't need that getting back to her family, she didn't need that as more ammunition to use against her. Doing her best to clear her face, she moved through the dirty house, her arms wrapped tightly around herself and to the door, feeling as though her legs didn't want to hold her up.

She opened the door and her heart stopped. "Beca?"

It _was_ Beca, only she had never seen Beca like this. Her clothes were fine, clean and well put together like usual, her hair was brushed, her face was carefully dressed in her usual makeup, only the moment she saw Aubrey her angry face crumpled, her teeth savagely biting into her lip. She hiccuped and looked away, obviously mad at herself for the reaction. The keys in her hand shook as she played with them, her eyes narrowing but despite that a few tears fell. "Damn it," she muttered, brushing them away.

"Beca." Aubrey breathed again, unable to believe it. She had assumed that she would never see either of them again, because that was how reality worked. You didn't see them on the street so your heart could burn and ache; you simply never saw them again, as though they had never existed. They vanished. "What are you-"

"So, did you break up with me too?" She squeaked, her voice pinched and strained. "Is that what happened and I just missed it? Like, did I just totally not get that was what happened?"

"Did I - _what_?"

"Because you disappeared. Like you literally fucking disappeared. In the middle of the Quarter. You just turned around and walked away and never came back."

She had thought seeing Chloe cry was the hardest thing she had been forced to see between them but this; she watched Beca's face contort, tears rolling in steady streams.

"I don't understand."

"So we're over then? Yeah? Okay." She wiped harshly at her eyes. "Cool. I just wanted to know for sure so I could stop – whatever."

"Beca!" Her hand shot out, catching Beca before she could fully turn. "I don't understand."

"Well Chloe dumped us." Beca said, trying for a harsh and sarcastic vibrato. "And then you took off. And I haven't heard from you since then. So-"

She had locked herself away for three days, that much was true. Only, she had done so because their relationship had ended.

Beca stopped talking, confusion on her face now, "What the fuck is happening right now?"

"Beca," she tried but she didn't have anything coherent to follow up with.

"So, now _you_ don't want me either, then. Yeah? Chloe was never really with us and you were only in it for her? Or for the kick of two girlfriends instead of one, right?"

"No."

"What the fuck? How is it that I was the _only_ one who was legit in? Like, what the shit?"

"No." Aubrey said again, still staring a little vacantly. Her head hurt and there was a sharp pain in her stomach. She didn't understand.

"Well then what the fuck did I do then?"

"You said that you were breaking us up. You wanted – Beca, I don't understand."

"Yeah, dude! She was! She was breaking the three of us up! That didn't mean that you and I broke up! What the fuck happened to four in one, dude?"

Aubrey's confusion rose. She had thought – she had assumed – Beca had _said_ 'breaking us up' and that she wanted to get away from her as quickly as possible. Beca had been trying to get away from her. "I had just assumed."

"All or nothing, right?" Beca wiped at her streaming eyes again. "Because fuck me, right? Who gives a shit. Expendable."

"Beca no." She reached out but Beca pulled away.

It had never occurred to her that Beca wasn't also dumping her. She had come to think of them as one so much that it had never occurred to her that perhaps Beca hadn't meant that they could not still be together. Hadn't she fantasized about that as much as she had fantasised about Chloe changing her mind?

"You still wanted to be with me?"

"What the fuck, dude?" Beca cried, far too loudly for someone who was standing on a porch. "Why do you keep saying shit like that? Why _wouldn't_ I? _You_ were the one who said it at fucking Spitfire."

"What?" What had she said?

Beca's face contorted, twisting like she was staring into the sun.

"What, Beca? What?" Her nerves were a little too strained at this moment to tolerate Beca's evasiveness.

A pained expression passed across Beca's face as she picked at a loose strip of paint on the outer door frame, her lips barely moving as she mumbled something.

"What?"

"Duuuude, don't make me say it again." She whined.

"But I couldn't hear you."

"I said how could you think that I don't love you? You! You were the one who said it, you asked me _'how can Chloe think we don't love her'_. The same fucking goes for you, Bree! How is it that after all of this you still don't know that?"

She didn't understand that. Her mind couldn't take those words in. They didn't make any sense. Aubrey stared, her aching heart for one second mending, beating whole and strange and warm. "You love me?" Had she just been making a point? Did she mean it?

Beca twitched, looking like someone was tickling her sides as she fought to deal with this conversation. "Well!" she defensively cried, "Yeah," she finally groaned, gesturing over her shoulder to the world at large. "I love that idiot too even though she's an idiot. I mean, what the actual fuck?"

Aubrey didn't know how to react. No one had ever told her that they loved her before, at least not for a long time. Even her family didn't really use those words. "Beca," she started and then stopped.

She felt disoriented and dizzy. She needed to sit down.

Beca loved her.

Chloe had broken up with her.

"Beca."

" _What?_ "

"Come inside."

Beca glared at her for a moment and then pushed past her, stomping through and toward the den. "Whoa."

Aubrey felt her feels grow hot. "I haven't been – my best self for the last few days."

Beca suddenly turned on her, "What the fuck, Bree? Why did you do this?"

"Do what, Beca? I thought – you said breaking us up, you did your best to get away from me as quickly as possible, to get out of the Quarter as quickly as possible."

"Yeah and you were supposed to come with me!"

Aubrey studied the floor, her mind working over the last few minutes slowly. "Did you say you love me?"

Beca grew awkward again, "Kinda."

She loved her. She had assumed they would move forward together.

Aubrey had known this before, but now it seemed so much more apparent. She was an idiot. "Beca."

"Dude, you gotta start using more words, Bree. You're freaking me out."

She reached out, ignoring her discomfort and touched her arm. It felt so good to have her hand on her that she closed it around her wrist and pulled her to her. When that wasn't enough she pulled her close and tentatively, sure that any moment Beca would pull away, she kissed her.

But Beca didn't pull away. Instead she melted, sagging a little into Aubrey. So she kissed her again. And again. A little harder this time as she started to slowly understand.

Beca loved her. She hadn't been the only one. Beca had loved Chloe. And she loved her.

"I love you too, Beca." Saying it was exhilarating, it was like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.

The frustration left Beca's face and a small smile pulled her lips up in the corners, "So you're not dumping me too? Or you did but you took it back? Or you are and -"

Aubrey leaned in, kissing her to quiet her. "No." She wanted to sing. She wanted to run and shout and sob.

"Okay."

And then the joy of the moment was over and the hurt of the recently dumped charged back into her, stealing her warmth. Aubrey melted into her, wrapping her arms around Beca's neck and hiding her face. "Damn," she hissed as she began to cry.

Beca just wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

* * *

The next two days were terrible and amazing all at once. She had Beca. She had her. She was there. But Aubrey couldn't stop the hurt either. She had been broken up with before, a lot as a matter of fact. Men often cut her loose early in their relationship because it was clear that she didn't care or they found her bossy attitude too much to deal with. Those had never really hurt. On occasion they would sting, or sometimes the manner in which the breakup would come was painful or humiliating. Still, she had rarely cared. Above all of that, she had never been _dumped_ before, let alone dumped completely unexpectedly. She had no real tools to use. Was it supposed to hurt this much? Was that normal? She felt like a mess and she hated that. Aubrey Posen never felt like a mess. She had cleaned, she had showered and made herself presentable. The gift of Beca's affection had made that possible.

Still, when she had gone into the office the day after Beca had shown up, after another restless night, something about her must have been obvious. She had set her things down and gone to put her lunch in the refrigerator as soon as she arrived. She hadn't even made it through the front hall completely before she stopped, looking around her. Everyone was staring at her. She glanced down at her pencil skirt, her heels, her shirt - nothing was out of place. She had wanted to yell out, 'what? We got dumped' but that had seemed silly to do. Instead she had just moved on, surprised and allowing the few contractors in the break room to be unusually nice to her, opening the break room door and helping her with her coffee.

The following day was much of the same, except Chad had finally reappeared in the office. He had come in, ready to tear her head off about some stupid thing or another, saw the look on her face and had promptly left.

She hadn't seen Beca, both busy with work so she was pleased that night when, just as she was leaving work, her phone gave a chirp. She sighed, not used to the single name across the top of her screen instead of the two.

"Hey. Dinner?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay. Can we not do anything though? Like, put on Game of Thrones or something and just like veg out? I don't want to go anywhere that has people."

The thought sent waves of warming calm through her. "That sounds perfect."

"K. Be there in thirty."

She let Beca in a bit later and immediately felt better. Beca put down the bag she had brought and pulled Aubrey into a hug, her kiss warm and firm and sure if not a little hurt still. Aubrey took comfort in her surety. Chloe left them and while they felt a little awkwardly off, always having had the third leg in their triangle, they both were sure they still wanted this. Which still amazed her.

The strangeness would pass, they both agreed. It would just take some time.

They settled down in the den together.

"I hope you don't mind." Beca mumbled, opening the bag and pulling out a huge Greek feast, "I remembered you saying this is what you eat when you had a bad date. I figured break up was probably not too far behind that. And this was what you had, right? When I came over the other day. It hadn't looked like you actually ate it."

Touched, Aubrey kissed her temple and they dug in, Aubrey comforted by the warm weight of Beca by her side. They turned on Game of Thrones and almost immediately fell into a friendly argument.

"Cersei is too attractive, Beca."

"Dude." Beca pointed to the screen, clear skepticism on her face. "The book talked about her like she looked like," Beca snickered, "well, like you."

"Yes, but this is not the first to steer away from character descriptions. That doesn't mean she isn't attractive though."

Beca just stared at her.

"Alright, maybe not in this, I'll admit, but did you see 'Imagine Me & You'?"

"Movie?"

"Yes."

Beca just stared blankly again, making her point.

"Of course. Well. It was about a woman who met her beautiful florist, played by this same actor and they fall in love. It's a wonderful movie."

Beca just started to laugh. "Dude, how are you like the gayest thing ever?"

Aubrey laughed too. And it felt good. Very good. Almost normal.

And neither acknowledged the space on the other side of Beca. Neither acknowledged the missing piece.

Beca stayed that night and when they made love Aubrey was transcended, touched and moved. It was beautiful. It was wonderful, satisfying, and she loved it. Feeling Beca's smaller body pressed into hers was heaven on this earth, making Aubrey want to be closer no matter how tightly she held her. Afterward Aubrey sprawled across her, slightly dizzy as she nuzzled into Beca's neck, her legs tangled with Beca's, her fingers intertwined with Beca's own. "I love you," she whispered into the dark.

It was exactly how she had always thought love would be. Still, she wasn't surprised when both of them quietly shed a few tears of loss.

* * *

Beca came over the next night and every night for the rest of the week. Sometimes Aubrey cooked dinner, sometimes Beca cooked, sometimes they skipped dinner altogether and went straight for the ice cream, the wine, the licorice - any typical breakup food.

It was strange and yet it was nice. They were going through a break up, that much was clear but at least they were going through said breakup together. They were licking their wounds and it wasn't bad - it was good - even absolutely amazing. The only time she felt a little better was when she was with Beca. She was her light and she loved her for it. She also knew that they both missed Chloe.

Neither of them said it, as a matter of fact, neither of them spoke of Chloe at all but Aubrey knew that she wasn't the only one unsure of whether or not they should fight for her or if they should respect her wishes and leave her alone. Just like she knew that she wasn't the only one worried that if she brought Chloe up, then the other might feel like they weren't enough which, that wasn't true, not for Aubrey anyway and she had to assume not for Beca.

It took her a week to the day.

A week after Beca showed up on her doorstep something tipped the scales.

She was at work, sitting behind her desk when her brother walked into her office for the first time in a while.

"Hey, Bree."

"Bree?" Her eyebrows rose, "I can't remember the last time you called me by name, Chad."

His shoulders fell and he sighed, "Look, can you please just call me Bumper, okay?"

Aubrey's jaw cocked to the side, "Alright." She finally said, giving a nod. "If you stop calling me Pee-Bree."

"Thank you. Geez. Wait, what?" He looked like he was about to choke. "Alright, fine. Whatever."

"Thank you." She returned to the paperwork in her hand, anxious to get it over with. If she hurried up and finished this off then she would be able to get up and go to the home of her latest client. She had been so bogged down with paperwork that she hadn't been able to do that for a while and visiting the houses was her favorite part of her job.

"Here." Her brother said, putting a steaming cup of coffee on the desk, "It's chicory."

She looked to the cup, to him and back to the cup, trying to see if she could find anything floating in it.

"I know it's like three but you just seemed like you needed a cup of coffee and I know the chicory is your favorite so whatever, don't make a big deal out of it."

She stared for a minute longer, trying to decide what exactly he was playing at. When she couldn't figure it out she just nodded and decided that she would not drink it. "Thank you."

"So."

"Um-hmm?"

"I just wanted - ugh - wanted to apologize about all of this. It's not, it isn't personal, you know?"

She scoffed. If there was anything she was sure of it was that his sudden want to take over the business was personal.

He looked at her like her scoff had just deeply offended him. "You know what? You know what, fine!" He yelled, his voice breaking a little bit. "Never mind then! I was going to be nice but fuck it!"

She watched him go, a little alarmed by the sudden tantrum. She didn't know why those still surprised her so much. She had seen them since they were kids. They hadn't changed at all.

She watched him settle back at his desk, amused as always that he didn't have an office as much as a desk that was off to the side.

What had that been? Was he trying to back out of it? She wasn't sure.

As of now she and Josh were simply waiting. They had gathered all they needed within two days. It was her brothers move now. Was he regretting it?

"Ms. Posen, that contract is ready for you."

Aubrey nodded at the secretary poking her head through the door. She could wait on this paperwork, she decided. The day was a beautiful one and she wanted to be in it. She stood, glancing at her brother's cup of coffee with a distrustful eye and decided that on the way she would stop at a Community House too. Community Chicory really was her favorite.

Aubrey had been a little uncomfortable when she saw the address. The Dumaine street location was only a four-minute walk from Chloe's studio, something that shouldn't have surprised her. Anything in the French Quarter was less than a ten-minute walk from her. Still, as she parked she moved quickly, feeling as though there were eyes on her, that somehow she was invading Chloe's space. She knew that was not at all what she was doing, and that the feeling of being watched was not real. Still, she rushed from the car and to the door as quickly as she could, her head down, trying not to imagine running into Chloe.

She entered the condo and gasped at it's beauty. There were a lot of places she loved to work around the city but there was always something about the Quarter that sent a trickle of happy through her veins. It was like New Orleans concentrated and she loved it.

She introduced herself to the homeowner, seeing obvious relief in her face. "Thank god," she said, "I was worried the rude man in your office was who I would be working with."

Aubrey bit her cheek, "No. I understand your worry but you can contact me for all of your needs throughout this project."

"'Kay, let me show you around."

She wasn't there long. In truth, she was rarely at the actual location very often. It was mainly to check and be sure that things were going as they should. She stepped back out into the sunny early evening and frowned. She was _so close_. The odds were that Chloe wasn't even home but - she could just stop by, just tell her that they missed her, see if she was willing to talk. This was _Chloe_ , after all. She had been her friend first. Wasn't it possible that they could at least have a friendship?

She pictured that, pictured sitting on a couch, leaning into Beca, _obviously_ in a relationship while Chloe sat on the other couch, laughing at something Beca had said with a stranger's hand on her leg or over her shoulders.

Her cell phone ringing pulled her from her thoughts, her head shaking. That sounded horrible.

She started toward her car, wanting to get away before she changed her mind and ran to Chloe's apartment anyway.

"Aubrey Posen." She said without bothering to see who it was.

"Hello Aubrey. I'm impressed. I assumed your cell phone must have been malfunctioning."

"Daddy!" Surprised she jerked the phone away to see the number and then shoved it back to her ear. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She had been stupid to answer without looking. She had just forgotten that he had so recently been trying to get ahold of her. "I'm sorry, I have just been very busy. I meant to call you back later today. What can I do for you, sir?"

"Aubrey, I think you and I need to have a talk about your brother."

* * *

She was still angry when her backdoor opened an hour later and Beca walked in.

He had said it was because Aubrey could ' _do more than Chad with her life_ '.

She had sat frozen in her drivers seat shocked when she asked, ' _don't you care about me at all, 'Daddy? Don't you care about my part in this, sir? Or is it only Chad that matters?'_

He had accused her of being dramatic.

 _'For god sake,'_ he had said, _'this is no time to give in to your womanly hysterics. Chadwick could not even graduate college, Aubrey. You, however, might do anything.'_

He had said it was so Aubrey _could get back to her own life in Boston_... as though he didn't know that she had been studying all of her life to take over Joie De Vivre, as though he didn't know that she had sold her condo in Boston, that she had put hours and hours of personal time into the business already. As though he didn't know that she had loved it since she was a girl.

As if she didn't know that they were invested in her and that they cared about her. As if she didn't know that meeting them in a coffee shop for a quick goodbye, that they had no say in, was a horrible thing to do! You know what it was like? It was like she hadn't cared about them. That's what it really was.

 _Ugh_ , she couldn't get her mind, her anger to stay on topic. she didn't even know which thing she was angry about.

"Hey." Beca said as she cautiously came into the kitchen. "You alright there, feisty?"

Aubrey slammed the long knife into the butternut squash she was chopping, making Beca jump.

"Dude! What's wrong?"

" _Chloe!_ " She all but yelled. "I expect this type of behavior from my family! I _expected_ my father to take Chad's side! That's why I didn't pick up the phone for so long! I expected him to not care. I'm just the unfortunate second child that had the audacity to be a girl! I expected my father to say some stupid thing about me getting back to my real life! That's fine! He does that! But I hadn't expected Chloe to behave how she did!"

"Uh, you wanna tell me what happened, maybe?"

"My _father!_ My _daddy!_ The man who is supposed to be my _bottom line_ told me today that I should sign over the business to him."

" _What?_ "

"He said that he will keep it impartial and stop our 'fighting' by the business being owned by someone else. As though I don't know that the moment I sign it away he will give it over to Chad, whether formally or informally. He said that I should take an all-expenses-paid _fucking_ vacation to Europe for a month and then I could 'go back to whatever I was doing before'! That's what he said. 'Whatever I was doing before'! He didn't even know, Beca! And he tried to buy me off with a vacation like I was a fucking princess!"

"He's a dick! That isn't new but how did you get from your prick of a dad to Chloe?"

"Because she's a prick!"

Beca's eyebrows went high and she took a slight back. Aubrey crumpled, her face scowling. "Alright, no. She's not. She's beautiful. I miss her. But I'm just so _angry!_ " She bellowed. "I'm tired of being dismissed! I was in the Quarter today! I was a block away from her home and all I could think was that I can't go there! Because she dismissed us without ever giving us the decency to try!"

Beca dropped her begs, her face flustered and leaned against the counter, "Right. Um, so, just a moment of truth from me here but I called her yesterday."

The knife fell from Aubrey's hand and Beca went on fast, clearly afraid Aubrey was going to pick the knife back up and use it on her. "Please don't think that it's because I'm not happy with you because _this_ , yeah, this is good. Like really good. And I'm in this. I'm in it to see where we go. I'm, I dunno, in it to win it or some other cheesy saying like that. Yes. It's just -"

"It's not about that! It's no reflection on that!"

"Right yeah, so, I called her."

"And?"

Beca shrugged, "And nothing. She didn't pick up. I don't think that she's going to pick up for us anymore. And, uuuuh, it's so confusing. I can't decide if it's smarter to stay and fight for this thing or if she really just wasn't fucking into it and we should let it go. I mean, like, how can you fight that? Not meeting their needs is one thing, but how can you fight her assuming that love can't happened between three people? I thought she liked us, or even – but I dunno."

Aubrey deflated, "I don't know."

Beca was silent for a minute, picking at her fingernail, "So are you going to do what your dad said to do?"

"NO!" Aubrey shouted, firing right back up. She was not! "I will not let my brother conquer me. I will not walk away from my business. I will not let Chad win simply because he is less capable! And you know, what, I won't let this win either."

"What?"

She grabbed Beca, ignoring the way she flinched away in her shock. She grabbed her and pressed her into the counter, kissing her with a fire that made Beca whimper. Her fingers closed tighter on Beca's arms and she kissed her harder. "I love you."

Beca just blinked up at her, unfocused.

"But I love her too. I have since that day she had to catch the roach."

"Don't talk about that!" Beca cried over her.

"And I'm so _tired_ of not fighting back! We're not giving up, Beca. That is not who we are."

A smile slowly rolled across Beca's face, "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Just making the decision was relieving. She felt lighter already. She would _not_ back down. She loved her business. She would die fighting.

"Okay. Good."

The smile that Beca gave her was wonderful and she found that she was kissing her again before she had planned to, kissing her until Beca was whimpering, until her own hands had come to life, skimming over Beca's hips and thighs.

"Just one, just one question."

"Hmm?" Aubrey smiled, her forehead falling to Beca's.

"You're not planning this because you _need_ to have Chloe here, right? Like, you're not interested without her?"

"What?"

"I know you just said the thing but,"

"Beca!"

"I dunno, Bree, you're not going to take off if she doesn't come back, right?"

"Baby no." Aubrey cooed, using Chloe's own nickname as she kissed her face.

Beca sighed, "Okay."

They finished making dinner, each talking fast as though they had been given a good dose of caffeine. They sat at the table, their elbows brushing and took far too long to eat because they couldn't stop talking.

"You know something that really bugged me?" Beca asked as their plates were finally clean.

"What's that?"

"She said that she couldn't 'belong to us'. And I mean, okay, maybe that sounds a little bit like we bought her but,"

"You thought we did belong to one another."

"In a totally not at all sarcastic way, I guess. I mean it's the whole we can't break up thing because we weren't far enough along. Like, what the shit was that?"

"Actually, that bothered me too. I did. I thought you were my girlfriends. And I suppose I don't have anyone to say that to, but I did think it."

Beca paused, her grin cheesy and giant, "I'm your girlfriend?" She said it like she was teasing but Aubrey didn't buy that for a second.

"That's right." She smirked, leaning over and giving her neck a playful bite. "You're mine, Beca Mitchell."

Beca's laugh was a little too high, a little too fast to be anything other than tickled and it made Aubrey smile all over again.

"Do you think it's that she thinks we can't be monogamous?" Beca asked after their laughter had died. She was rolling her eyes at herself, but the question was a valid one. "I mean, I know that monogamous means one so that sounds kind of stupid but like,"

"No, I know what you mean. I can see how having two would seem more -"

Beca nodded and Aubrey let it fall because she wasn't exactly sure what it seemed like.

"Is that what you want?"

Beca looked up, a little surprised, "What do you mean?"

"To be in that type of relationship?"

"Committed, you mean?"

"Yes?"

"I mean...yes? We just talked about the girlfriend thing. So yes. I don't know, things didn't exactly start out normal for us, you know? So I kind of thought-"

Aubrey laughed, relieved, "I thought the same thing. I just assumed that if things started the way they did for us then clearly it must mean we were headed for something serious." A drop of sadness trickled into her stomach and spread, filled her, "I guess Chloe didn't think so."

"Maybe she just didn't know."

"How could she not know?"

Beca just shook her head.

They eventually cleaned up their plates and headed into the den. They stayed there for a long time, talking into the night, talking until eventually Aubrey fell asleep with her head resting on Beca's chest.

"I want to do it today."

Aubrey nearly choked on her hot coffee, "You what?"

"If we're going to do it then I want to just do it, you know? I don't want to fucking sit around and stress about it." Beca's movements had gotten jerky, her face pulling into a frown.

"Hey." Aubrey caught her. "Alright. I think you're right. I think that the talk last night was exactly what we needed and,"

"We probably should have done it sooner?"

"Exactly. And with Chloe."

"So."

Aubrey nodded and picked up her phone.

She hadn't expected it to work, not really. She and Beca got dressed after the first call that went eventually to voice mail. Then they began to pace back and forth, Aubrey calling, promising via voicemail that they really needed to talk to her and then Beca calling and doing the same.

With each phone call they both got more nervous until the time for lunch came and past and they were sure that their chance to catch her before work was over.

"What if she literally just deletes the messages? We can't -"

"I don't know, Beca!" She snapped, cutting her off.

"Dude, same team!"

"Sorry. I'm just worried."

Beca's blown wide and stressed eyes blinked up at her for a few beats of silence and Aubrey could see the cogs working in her mind. "Fuck it," she finally mumbled under her breath, and clicked a name on her screen.

"What are you doing?"

Beca shook her head a little, her eyes darting as she listened to the ring. "Heeeeey."

Aubrey's heart leapt; was it Chloe? Had Chloe picked up? She rushed in, looking for some kind of verbal clue that would ease the tension in her body, only Beca just held a hand up.

"Hey Stacie, it's Beca...right, yeah, you know that. Listen, we're...yeah, we are...have you seen...uh huh."

Aubrey's face had pulled down into a frown, unsure why it was that Beca was calling _Stacie_ of all people. She liked her, for the most part, but now that she knew that she had feelings for Chloe...

"No, it's not like that, we just wanted a few minutes to talk to...uh huh...wait, what?" Shock ran across Beca's face and then solidified into anger. "Dude, what the fuck? No, we weren't! No! ...Why would I lie about that? That was the goal...you don't know our relationship! I'm not asking you to do anything but pass on the message that we have something we need to fucking tell - what the shit, Stacie?"

"What?" She fluttered beside Beca, anxiously wishing she would put it on speakerphone.

Beca pulled the phone away from her ear, not nothing to mute it as she said, "She won't help and thinks we don't deserve Chloe. She thinks we were fucking behind Chloe's back the whole time."

Aubrey stared, dumdfounded. She knew that she didn't deserve her. She had hurt her, but what about Beca? She deserved her. How _dare_ she!

"So you're telling me it has nothing to do with wanting Chloe for yourself?...No...no, I call bullshit on that Stacie, I...we didn't _mean_ to hurt her, but - are you _kidding_ me? You don't get to make that choice!...Right, you mean you, right? You mean _you_ would be better for her!"

She hadn't meant to move, but she was seeing red. She snatching the phone from Beca's hand, making her yip.

"Listen to me, you over assuming bimbo, I understand that Chloe is wonderful. I understand that you have a -a - a _crush_ on her and so you want us to stay away, but if you get in our way then I will _take - you - down!_ If you don't want to help us then that is just fine!" She was breathing hard when she hit the end call button before Stacie could say another word.

Beca was pacing again, running her hands agitatedly through her hair. "I can't even fucking blame Stacie."

Aubrey just glared back, trying to sooth the fury washing through her.

"Maybe we should just go."

"Go?"

"To Basin Street."

"Beca…"

"I know!" She groaned, rubbing her palms harshly through her hair. "I know we said we wouldn't do that but like what the fuck else are we going to do? Stacie isn't going to help us and Chloe isn't going to pick up the phone!"

Aubrey chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I don't know. I would be angry in that situation."

"Yeah, me too but like, this is so clearly not working."

Aubrey wasn't convinced. Business and personal lives should never be forced to mix.

"We don't even have to stay. We should just go in and be like look stop ignoring our calls, we just want five minutes. Plus, we should probably do that before she learns that you told her friend that you would take her down." The corner of Beca's lips almost twitched into a smile.

"And if she refuses?"

Beca just shook her head.

"Alright, fine. But we will only be there for five minutes."

Beca nodded but she didn't look relieved that Aubrey had given in. She looked terrified.

"What if she's not even here?"

Aubrey had thought of that as they were taking the Vieux Carre exit. She shook her head, unable to deal with that thought. If she wasn't then they would try again.

"What if Stacie won't let us see her?"

She shook her head again.

"What if-"

"Beca!"

"Sorry."

They parked, both taking breaths that were too slow and deep to be relaxing.

She didn't think that she could fully handle this. As a matter of fact, she knew she couldn't. There was such a strange mix of things filling her. She had never stopped being angry, not since it had started after her father's phone call. She wanted to yell at Chloe, to refuse to allow her anywhere near her, to let her know what she missed out on and then to move on. Yet, she wanted miserably, desperately for Chloe to speak to them. She wanted her to tell them she had made a mistake. She wanted to move forward with a despairing passion, so strong it made her head spin. So she marched. Literally marched straight through the front doors and turned to the left automatically, going to the desk where she knew Chloe would be if she were there.

It wasn't relief she felt when she saw her standing next to Stacie, but instead a grim determination. It _was_ however, extreme anger she felt when she saw Stacie look up first and glare as though they had done something terrible. Stacie stood, her glare possessive, like she was about to step in front of them and block their way to Stacie.

Chloe looked up and her face was almost comical. She looked at them, her huge eyes startled, her mouth popping open.

Beca let out a small nervous moan but continued along beside her.

For a moment Aubrey was sure that Chloe was going to bolt. She held her hand out in a please-stay-calm gesture but Chloe just looked at it.

"I know. I'm sorry, Chloe, this is rude of us."

"This is my _work!_ " Chloe hissed. Her face white except for splotches of purple in the apple of her cheeks.

"I know, we apologize. We simply did not know what else to do."

"Nothing! You do nothing!" She cried in a whisper.

"Look, we just want five minutes of your time, okay?" Beca pleaded, "Literally five minutes."

Aubrey glanced at Stacie nearby and scowled. Stacie was glaring.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Chlo." Stacie hissed, her hand covering Chloe's and giving it a squeeze.

Aubrey wanted to take the hand off at the wrist and hand to ball her own hands tightly in order to keep them still.

Chloe looked first to Stacie, then to her hand and then between them. "You guys need to leave."

"Chlo!" Beca scoffed dryly. "You literally dumped us in five minutes. Like, no exaggeration. It was five minutes. Is it really so crazy to say now we want five minutes of _your_ time? Isn't that just kind of fair?"

Chloe wasn't looking at them. Instead she had her eyes trained down, shuffling the cards that belonged on Stacie's desk. Finally her face sharpened, her mouth snapping shut.

"Chloe." Stacie warned but Chloe just glared back at her.

Stacie gave a rude scoff. "Fine." She picked up a few folders on her desk, loudly clapped the bottoms of them on the desk to straighten them and then slapped them back down. "Fine. Don't come cryin' to me when you're weak."

Chloe's glare just darkened all the more, a twinge of hurt in her eyes that made Aubrey's protective side roar. Chloe stalked forward, grabbing both Aubrey and Beca and pulling them through a door, a hallway and then outside to the back of the building.

"I cannot believe you guys came here!" She hissed, her arms crossed over her stomach, staring at the empty space between them instead of at them.

"I know," Beca winced, "We didn't want to do this. We just don't know what else to do."

"Okay well, _what_? What was so important?"

Aubrey studied Chloe's face, surprised to notice that while she was being harsh, her eyes were over bright and teary. Was that a good sign for them or a bad?

"Look," Beca started and Aubrey was glad. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, okay, since we only have five freaking minutes." Chloe's lips pursed but she did not comment. "I get it. We get it. You have been waiting for this knight in shining armor shit your whole life and this isn't that. This isn't really a 'one day my prince will come' kind of thing. But we've been talking a lot and we're sorry if we hurt you but look, just because you caught us together doesn't mean there wasn't room for you."

"Beca," Chloe wiped under an eye, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. "I already _told_ you! This just isn't for me!"

"Why?" Aubrey asked, her voice lighter than Beca's, softer.

"Because I can't!"

"But what does that mean?" She was working hard not to fall into the trap, the usual Chloe and Aubrey arguing.

"That I can't, Bree."

"Chloe! That's not an answer!"

"Why? Because you don't like it? It's literally the only answer that matters!"

"There is a reason for every action, Chloe! We just want to know what it is! You owe us that!"

"Oh, _I_ owe _you two_ that? After _I_ caught you two in bed?"

"You caught us in bed, ready and waiting for you, Chloe. Please don't speak as though you caught us with a neighbor or the mailman. We were within our Triad and waiting, very anxiously for you, and I think you know that."

She was arguing. Her resolve had lasted less than a gnat's lifetime. But, oh, it almost felt good to be arguing with Chloe again and while she could feel Beca pulling on her arm, trying to get her to stop, she refused, not when Chloe's arms were slowly uncrossing, not when she was sure that if she just pushed Chloe might accidentally tell them the truth. "We had already talked about this, Chloe! We had already agreed that the goal was fifty percent together and 50 percent separate."

"I know that!"

"Then what?"

The back door they had come through opened and though they couldn't see her in the shadows, Stacie's voice rang out, "Doing the friend-check-in-don't-give-in-Chloe thing. Come back inside."

"Stacie!" Chloe snapped. "I'm fine!"

"Alright," Stacie signed, and even Aubrey could hear the sadness in her voice. "I fulfilled my expected amount of effort."

Aubrey turned back to her before the door was even fully closed, "Do you have feelings for her?"

"What?" Chloe blinked, shocked. "No! Why? She's Stacie! She's my friend!"

Aubrey and Beca exchanged a look, Aubrey wondering if their oblivious girl didn't realize that Stacie wasn't teasing but instead actually wanted her.

Chloe's chin gave a sudden jerk and her lips pressed into a thin line, "Not that it's _any_ business of yours! Stacie - she likes to tease, but it's - whatever, she has just been a little...protective, recently."

Beca gave a snort.

"Why does she keep saying things like that, Chloe?" Aubrey asked. She as jealous, and she knew it. "Don't give in to what? Don't give into the women who treated you so poorly?"

"No!"

"Then what Chloe? What is it?" Beca was pulling on her arm pretty harshly now but Aubrey was angry. Stacie was warning Chloe against them? Don't give in? For serious? "Why can't you, Chloe? Why won't you tell us?"

Chloe was starting to fidget in place and it made Aubrey want to reach out and shake it out of her.

"Chloe!"

Her wet blue eyes looked at her, really looked at her for the first time and a tear spilled, "Because, I just _can't_! I - I didn't know how to feel! You can't be jealous of two people at once! That isn't how relationships work!"

Beca stopped pulling on Aubrey's arm.

"We _love_ you!" Aubrey snapped back.

"I know!"

Aubrey's tongue clicked, affronted, and she took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. Chloe knew? _Of course_ she knew.

"We're just asking for a few minutes of honesty, Chloe," Beca said, the hand that had been pulling on Aubrey's arm now sliding around to rest reassuringly on her back. It did wonders and Aubrey took a long, deep breath.

Chloe's head tilted, her tears still falling. "I don't think I can be in _this_ kind of relationship with you guys. When I walked in," she shook her head, wiping under her eyes, "it was the most - _upsetting_ and yet - the _sexiest_ thing I had ever seen - and those two things don't go together. They are not meant to go together. I can't stand living a life like that. That's not love. I walked away and all I could think about was the fact that I was jealous of _both_ of you but I loved _both_ of you too much to feel that way toward you."

"Dude," Beca scoffed, looking both gleeful and frustrated.

"Chloe." Aubrey tried. "Isn't that kind of the point? Beca and I have crossed that bridge. You leaving us and our want for you to come back made that happen. We love each other and we _love you_. Chloe," she moved a little closer, feeling like she was walking on a tight rope. "You said it yourself, remember. Different doesn't have to mean bad. So maybe there are three of us instead of two, but that doesn't change the level of commitment. Our level of commitment to you." Chloe just looked at her, eyes swimming. "We've been talking. We should have talked more before. But we know how we want to move forward, we know what we want."

"We want to be monogamous!" Beca blurted.

"Beca!"

Beca groaned, turned in a circle, her hands running over her face in a clear don't kill these women stress release. "Sorry! You were taking too long. We were going to be fifty before you actually said it."

Chloe was looking at them like they had asked her to compute a ridiculous sum. "I don't understand how that is even possible!"

"Dude! How is it that you don't get it?" Beca cried, "You're like the smartest fucking person I know! We want to be together. Here's the thing, we never talked about seeing other people, I don't know if you are but this relationship can be normal, it can be a happily ever after or whatever you're looking for! Why can't we be?"

"What?"

Aubrey licked her lips, her hand going out so she could speak without interruption, "Chloe."

But Beca steam rolled over her, "Fine. I'm going to get sappy. Okay? Fine! What I'm trying to say is that it _doesn't matter_ which one of you I am kissing because when I'm kissing one of you then in my mind I'm kissing you both. Since I kind of thought - think - thought - think of us all as a couple - as _one_. Okay?"

Aubrey's hand fluttered over her heart, entirely touched. That was beautiful. She had said it a little like saying it made her angry but that had been beautiful. She touched Beca's arm, wanting to communicate a silent 'I love you' but Beca shrugged away, walking a few feet one direction and then the other as though she were walking off an injury. They both watched her go. Maybe she was a little crazy but Aubrey was certain that if this was to shrug off her embarrassment or her anger then she should be looking more relaxed, right? Not more revved up.

"I just- I can't even - ugh!" Beca stalked back toward them and then Aubrey was flying, tripping over as Beca pushed her forward into Chloe.

Aubrey yelped, afraid for a moment that she was going to fall but Chloe caught her. She understood, of course, she knew the tactic; she had used it on Chloe herself once. She just wished Beca hadn't quite thrown her at Chloe. Before Chloe could react, Aubrey leaned down and caught her in a kiss.

And to her surprise, Chloe let herself be kissed.

Aubrey hadn't expected that.

"See. I can feel that kiss." Beca's voice was close by, very close and Chloe whimpered a little. "Chloe, I kinda feel like maybe you still want to be with us. Maybe I'm a self-absorbed prick, but Stacie wouldn't have tried to ward you off of us twice now if you didn't at least a little bit. There's a reason she thinks that you shouldn't talk to us."

"Bree?"

She turned, her arms still around her, holding tightly to Chloe, still keeping her close as was enveloped into a kiss.

The kiss was long and slow and chaste but in it she felt Chloe's fingers trace her arm, a hand closing around her forearm in a vise.

Aubrey pulled away, her heart in her throat, wishing that Chloe's arms would wrap around her, that her fingers would touch her face, anything. Instead Chloe just whimpered, her forehead resting against Aubrey's cheek.

"When I'm kissing her, I'm kissing both of you, Chloe."

Chloe's head shook a little, her eyes burning into Aubrey as she murmured, "I want to belong to someone. I want them to belong to me. I want to _know_ them and let them _know_ me. _Two_ _halves of one whole_."

"You _are ours._ " She growled, holding tighter. "If you want us. If you let yourself be. You are ours. And we're yours. Three parts of one whole."

"Lagniappe, Chlo." Beca said, her voice still close. "The only difference is that we need a larger bed." Beca gave Chloe a small smile and tentatively reached up to give a lock of Chloe's hair a tug, "Come on, Carrots."

Chloe gave a wet laugh. "You _did not_ just call me Carrots!" But she was smiling, her teeth between her lip. "I - I hadn't thought about it that way."

Chloe's eyes were crystal blue as they turned back to her.

She could feel herself hoping and she wasn't sure if that was smart or not. Surely it wasn't smart to hope. This was just a perspective issue, Chloe not seeing things for how they really were ... but would Chloe understand that? "What does that mean?" she cautiously asked.

Chloe's mouth opened but she paused, shook her head and spoke. "Thinking about it that way makes it a little different." Chloe's fingers moved over her arm, looking both lost and suddenly excited, "The three of us, all connected, just us, that -" she shook her head, confused, "that makes me want to take you to bed."

Aubrey's jaw dropped.

She had not been expecting that.

"But that's weird! God, this whole thing is so weird! I don't understand it!"

"No, it's not!" She insisted. "Chloe, that is how you would feel about one partner, right? Being bonded that way would make you want - _that_ , right?"

"Yes."

"Dude, it's no different! I think you're expecting this to be way weirder than it is!"

Aubrey was nodding. "Perhaps we need some ground rules, but yes, Chloe, this is normal. Just the three of us." She pulled her in and kissed her, "And we love you so much."

"Look, we know where we were and where we are now, right? We also know where we want to be." Beca insisted. "It's just - we just need -"

"A leap of faith." Chloe supplied.

"Yeah," Beca nodded, slowly grinning, "Yeah, that's right."

"We can do this, Chloe. We can have a normal life. The three of us. Committed. We could have a future. This might look a little different but we - this - this can be something beautiful. Can we please just have the chance to talk about it? Not here, not at work?"

Chloe's mouth opened, not pushing away from the arm Aubrey had around her waist. She thought for a moment and then she nodded. "Okay. Okay, I'll come over after work, alright?"

Aubrey smiled, "Thank you."

* * *

PS: I love Staubrey/Steca. (I don't think there's a femslash pairing in this fandom I hate. Some l like more than others, but i like them all) So while they aren't friends 100% in this fic, I have a head canon that Stacie's crush and her role as friend are the things in the way. I see them getting along in the future once things have settled. After all, they were fine before Stacie knew that they had been in a relationship.  
And I know a lot of you wanted more drama with Stacie, and usually I would have turned that into a thing, but I was working hard this fic not to go into the land of angst too much!


	23. Chapter 23

Again, I just need to point out that if you go on anon and ask me questions, I really can't answer your directly guys. I promise I wont bite, you really can message me when you don't agree with something or you don't understand something and I (scouts honor) promise not to be a bitch or attack. Super promise and swear.  
So. That being said, the anon still asking about how Aubrey's father can have a say in who got what part of the business. I can't answer you since you're always on guest, however, I have written out another explanation of the legalities of the business and put it up on tumblr. I just figured why not. There is a link to the tumblr page on this chapter on AO3 or if you want, just message me, hon, and I can tell you!  
In other topics.  
Sooooo this is it. Wtf, how did we get here so freaking soon?! I feel like this story just started! Posting this story has meant a lot to me. Working on my publication has been a little difficult and has made me feel like a 100% shit writer. Your responses to this story have been the thing keeping me afloat. I'll miss that! So, for those of you who don't know. There WILL be a sequel, around five years later/about trying to make a baby. I wasn't a huge fan of the idea of that plot since I've done it a lot, however so many of you wanted it after the Mama/Mommy/Mom posts on Tumblr (Link on AO3 or my Tumblr) that I finally gave in. However, it won't happen right away. As it's planned right now, I need to work on the second half of TLS, then I'll be writing a SQ fic, then the third in the Willa Girl series, THEN the sequel to this. So it's going to be probably a year or more. However, it will happen.  
I want to say thank you again to everyone who read and commented. I just...you are all so awesome and I'll miss you while I'm away from fic land/creating something new.  
I'm going to post this chapter now and I'll post the epilogue tomorrow!

* * *

 _ **Chloe**_

* * *

Chloe chewed her bottom lip, her pen tapping lightly on the desk beside her. It was so quiet out here. That was totally why she had come, of course, she had thought the quiet of her semi-rural childhood home would help her get the last bit of her dissertation finished. Which, was a good idea, or at least it would have been if her mind would stop drifting and the nervous butterflies in her stomach would settle. Instead she just found herself looking out across the trim green lawn the backyard. She found herself gazing with unfocused attention at the old and forgotten metal swing set, a relic left behind from the five Beale children. She thought, a bit absently, that maybe Miles would play on it eventually when visiting gramps and grandma. Or even her children, if she had them, _when_ she had them.

She would need to remind Evan that he needed to be sure the thing was still safe to be climbed on. All they needed was for them to think that it was still solid, only for Miles to gleefully climb up the slide and have it fall off – or something. Then again, she thought of all the times the baking Texas sun had heated that very metal slide up until it left blisters on the backs of their thighs after a few runs, or of how they would get the basket swing going so fast that the metal legs of the whole set would come up.

Hmmm. Perhaps the swing set needed to be replaced with something a little safer than the swing sets in the 80's had been, something a little more modern.

Things were so much friendlier now, so much lower to the ground, and made from heat resistant plastic and -

Shoot. She jerked her gaze away from the backyard.

She had completely drifted off again.

Still, when she turned back to the laptop screen, she found that the only thing she was looking at was the clock.

11:04 in the morning.

She still had _two whole hours_ before she needed to leave.

Her pen tapped a little faster on her desk, a tool for fidgeting more than a tool for writing.

She was so nervous. She was get up and pace, swallow a bottle of Pepto, while also jump and sing and dance nervous.

She couldn't focus. But she needed to focus.

She pushed herself up and headed out of the room, skipping across the landing and down the carpeted stairs toward the kitchen. She winced, as she had every single time since she was a child, when her feet left the carpet for the cold marble of the downstairs flooring, but the wince was such a habit that she barely noticed it.

The strangest thing about coming home as an adult now was that the house was quiet. All five of the children had been out of the house for many years now and while Evan, Abby, and Miles were still local, the rest of her siblings were a few hours away now.

The house was too empty.

Maybe that was why her mind couldn't settle. There was no loud chaos of the Quarter, no screaming of her siblings, no ten friends over to tear up and down the hallways or play football in the backyard.

It was _too_ quiet.

She sighed as she padded barefooted into the kitchen.

The weather downstairs was perfect. She hadn't realized how nice it was out. Her mother had thrown all the windows open before she left, leaving the backdoor open so Sammy, their family dog who was affectionately named after her mother, could run in and out.

He came galloping up now, his doggy tongue lolling and Chloe spent a second scratching his ears before she moved to the water filter on the kitchen island.

Good ol' Texas, where even in the early weeks of February it was a perfect 84 ° out.

Alright, it was a little warm, even for Texas but she loved it. Beca was going to melt. She was already melting back home and it was only in the seventies there.

That was alright. She would just throw Beca in the pool if need be. Maybe the three of them should go for a swim anyway that night. That could be…fun.

Giggling at the thought, she got herself a glass of water, not because she wanted one but because she was trying to refocus herself.

Instead, she ended up standing beside the counter day dreaming.

She had thought Beca was going to explode when she had suggested that they come, have dinner with her family and stay the night while she was out here.

 _"Why?"_ Beca had cried. _"Why? Why,why,why would we do that? Why would you want us to do that? Why? That doesn't make any sense. Why? Why would you want that? Why? Why?"_

She sounded like a record that was stuck, unable to skip on to its next track and for a moment Chloe wondered if she had broken her.

 _"I am not parent material, Chlo! I have tattoos and ear piercings and I tend to enjoy, you know, doing things to their daughter! I am not, I repeat, am not parent material! Like at all!"_

Aubrey had then started to laugh. _"I have piercings. I like – doing things to their daughter, as you say. Does that mean that I'm not parent material, Bec?"_

Beca had looked like her brain was melting, one eye twitching a little as she just stared blankly at Aubrey, unable to argue the idea that yes Aubrey had piercings, extreme piercings, but was still completely parent-meeting-material.

Chloe didn't know _why_ she had chosen to do this _now_. The holidays had only just passed. Her brothers and sisters would all have to turn around and drive back if they wanted to be a part of the event. Which, strangely enough, her mom had told her that the moment she told her siblings that they were having dinner with Chloe's girlfriend( _s_ ) they had all seemed pretty interested in coming right back. Their breakup and reunion had only just happened but once she had gotten the idea into her head, she hadn't been able to step away from it. Which, that was like her. Once she decided she wanted it, she had to have it.

She had been on Aubrey's bed when she got the idea. She had been enjoying the way that Aubrey's long body was stretched out, nude and still shaking from their first time together just the two of them. She had watched as Aubrey had seen the caller ID on her ringing phone and had gone from the warm strangely confident woman she was in the bedroom to a cowering, unhappy girl as she spoke to her father, too nervous not to pick up the call. She had seen the laughter leave her eyes, she had seen Aubrey's brow wrinkle and tense and it had just occurred to her suddenly that neither Beca nor Aubrey really had a family of their own, not one that loved them and cared for them. She knew that; they had been telling her that for months and after meeting the Posens, she had finally understood. The moment that idea hit her, she had been filled with a thick, strong, overpowering desire to give them one. Along with this new level of commitment, this talk of a _future_ together, she wanted desperately to give that to them. She had asked Aubrey right then and to her surprise, Aubrey hadn't seemed nervous but instead moved and deeply flattered.

Chloe was sure she would never forget her voice as she had quietly asked, 'you want your family to meet us?'

Chloe had attacked her for her cuteness, kissing her face and crying, 'WHY WOULDN'T I WANT MY FAMILY TO MEET MY GIRLFRIENDS?!'

Her _girlfriends._

They were her girlfriends.

 _Her_ girlfriends.

All hers.

She was still scared, yes. She was still unsure of exactly how this would work, how they would make a life together and _how_ it could last long term, but she was in. She was willing to try. No more waiting for a duo relationship. She was going to have it all, have her cake and eat it to. She was going to have her Beca and her Aubrey.

Because she was the luckiest girl alive.

Chloe gave a start, realizing that she was just standing there, Sammy flopped peacefully over her feet.

She needed to focus! Two hours. Two hours and then she could go pick them up.

* * *

What felt like an eternity later, she was standing by the baggage claim, not because either woman had checked anything but because it seemed like a logical meeting place.

She was _so_ nervous.

Her family, or at least her parents, had taken the news well. After she, Aubrey and Beca had decided, as rule number three, that they could tell their families when and if they felt comfortable, Chloe had called them. That very evening, as a matter of fact.

Her parents, Samantha and Greyson, had taken it in stride, truthfully. They both were good ol' down home Texans but they had grown used to their spirited youngest. So when she had called them over Facetime to inform them of her recent choice to commit to _two_ women there had only been a moment of awkward stammering and surprise before her mom had said, 'well honey – alright. I reckon two isn't all that different than one'.

She loved her parents. She was so lucky.

Still, her parents _meeting_ them was different than hearing about them – even if she and her mom had then gone on to talk for an hour about the women.

And Aubrey and Beca; she knew they were both uncomfortable but they were being amazing about this.

She heard Beca's anxious hyperventilating before she saw them. Beca usually played most situations so cool and close to her chest, totally nonplused about most things, but apparently, parents were the thing she couldn't handle.

'Even _my_ parents don't really like me', she had cried over and over again since their plans had been made. 'Sarah! They like Sarah! Not me! Or Bree! They'll like Bree. Not me!' She kept saying it and looking at them like this was the answer to a question that neither had answered.

Walking through the airport, Beca had that wild look in her eyes again, like she might bolt at any second and Aubrey had her hand on her back, talking softly into her ear.

"Beca!"

Beca's wide eyes only looked up, barely registering her.

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

Beca nodded, a little woodenly, her huge suddenly bat-like eyes remaining unblinking as she vacantly looked around, letting Aubrey lead her.

It wasn't really the time since Beca was slowly on her way to a meltdown but Chloe couldn't help the surge of affection in her chest, or the way it made her laugh. "It's going to be fine, Beca. They're going to love you. _I love you_ , so of course they will love you too."

Beca just gaped at her.

"Oh my god, come on silly."

They headed out to her father's truck, all aware they were no longer in the liberal city of New Orleans and so saving their kisses hello until they got in.

"Something about you driving this monster fucking truck is fitting, Chlo," Beca tittered as she was shoved in the middle.

"She speaks!"

"Nope. I don't. Do that."

"Hush." She laughed, giving her cheek a soft kiss. "You guys okay? You ready? How can I help?"

Beca was shaking her head again. "I'm just glad that no one will be there until later."

Chloe had planned it that way on purpose, having them fly in during a work day so they had time to settle.

"This is going to be great. You'll see, Bec." She smiled and, hand on her thigh, she pulled out of the airport.

"So, I have news from Josh."

Instantly Chloe's heart was in her throat.

None of them had talked about it, taking their cue from Aubrey who was rarely willing to discuss the matter, but it was clear that they were reaching the edge of this situation with her brother. Both sides had been gathering information for a few weeks now and soon, they knew, someone would have to do something about it. Josh and Aubrey had been waiting for Chad's lawyer to approach them, but if they didn't then Chloe was pretty sure that Aubrey was going to blow her top and tear them a new asshole. Rightfully.

"You know the stuff I've been gathering over the last few days?" Aubrey asked.

The thought made her smile.

Aubrey was such an amazing woman, a total H.B.I.C. Josh had been playing polite soft ball with the possible case. It was Aubrey who had decided to speak to their clients, to go through old cases and track down every single person who would walk if Aubrey was no longer involved in the company, who had a dispute with Chad, who generally disliked him.

Chloe and Beca nodded and Aubrey went on with a level of excitement that they rarely saw from her. "There's so much of it. It's amazing. Josh thinks that Chad doesn't have a case. He thinks that there is no way that Chad's lawyer will let them push this case into action with the amount we have against him. How could they? It would be stupid. It would be suicide. I think, I don't know for sure, but I think that Chad's threat was all hot air. Or he had no idea how many people dislike him."

"What?" Chloe cried, "Yes! Oh my god, baby, that's amazing news!" She high fived her and then let her fingers intertwine with Aubrey's in Beca's lap.

"Dude, I told you. No case. The douche-B has no case."

Aubrey just smiled at them, her head giving a little jaunty tilt.

Beca had settled a little bit as they drove the forty-five minutes from the airport but now, pulling into the house's massive driveway, Beca had started to look a little nervous again.

"Wow, this is, uh, not small. House. Not a small house."

Chloe shrugged, "There were seven of us. Ten if you count the dog, Astrid's cat and Tover's rat."

"Uh huh."

"Babe." Chloe half chided, hoping she wasn't showing how much Beca's nerves amused and touched her. It was sweet that she cared this much. "It's going to be fine. Okay?" She had cupped Beca's face, forcing her to look at her and now kissed her forehead. "We're going to have a great time. Yes? They're just people."

" _Your people_."

" _You're_ my people."

Beca just stared for a second and then her eyes gave a roll as her cheek began to pink. "Well played, lady."

"Damn, skippy." Still she held Beca's nervous face for another second before kissing it. "They're just people, Bec."

Beca began to nod again, her face clearing. "Right. Yeah. Totally. Just people. You're right. This will be fine. Like, totally fine-zo." She scowled, "Um. I don't know what that was – that I just said. Whatever. Yeah, let's get inside. It's fucking hot."

Beca hopped out of the truck and grabbed her bag from the back, leaving Chloe to meet Aubrey around the side.

"You're my people too, you know." She said, doing her best for adorable and sexy all at once.

Apparently she succeeded because Aubrey's grin was slow and lazy, the kind she gave right before she kissed them. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She nodded, flirtatiously walking her fingers up the buttons of Aubrey's shirt.

"All right."

"How are you? You okay?"

Aubrey's lips pursed in that telling way, and she smoothed her shirt, but she also nodded.

* * *

"How is this? Is this alright? Like, I dunno," Beca studied herself in the mirror again. "You keep saying to be myself but this feels a little _too much_ like myself." Beca had changed three times now and given the politely frustrated look on Aubrey's face, she had a feeling that Beca had changed a few times more back in New Orleans. "Maybe I need to tone down the Beca-ness. Like, a little less Beca would be good, maybe."

It was nearly four and any moment now her mom would arrive home and they would have to make their introductions. Chloe was nervous, which was weird, but she was also so excited. Beca, however, was a mess again. "Bec! It's literally just my parents!"

That was the wrong thing to say though because Beca began her impersonation of a goldfish again, her mouth opening and closing until she finally spluttered, "They _made_ you!"

Aubrey gave a tight cough, her head turned very purposely away.

"Chlooooeeeeeee!" Beca whined, "Is this what I should wear? I don't even know. Like, what the fuck! Guys! I don't know. Guys? Guys!" Beca swung around, a look of manic terror on her face.

"Beca, it's perfect!"

Beca had originally pulled on a dress and while it had been a very nice dress and she had looked very pretty, Chloe immediately vetoed it. She wanted her family to meet _them,_ not some weird version of themselves that they thought they would like. Beca had then tried a few things that had also been weird choices in the 'dress like yourself' department, freaked out because it was too hot, stripped down and flailed around the room, looking for the pants that had been in her bag and then thrown her current outfit on. In Chloe's opinion, this outfit was the winner.

Beca had put on her usual jeans and a forest green tee shirt of her favorite slam-poet and musician, a personal favorite of Beca's that she had seen her wear a million times.

"This was supposed to be for the flight back! I can't wear this to meet your parents! They're going to think I'm an anarchist or something."

"What? Why would they think that?"

"I have people smoking tattooed on my arm, Chloe!"

"I don't think they're going to think that, Bec." Chloe frowned. "Please stop doubting everything that makes you who you are. I love that tattoo."

Aubrey finally gave a sigh and stood, taking the skirt Beca was holding out of her hand and kissing her. "Beca, we're here _because_ Chloe's parents aren't like ours, remember?"

Chloe scowled, feeling like a jerk. She hadn't thought about that being Beca's reason for this response, this level of freak out. "Yeah, Bec. Really. They're going to love you."

Beca nodded as Aubrey kissed her temple and checked to be sure her clothes were wrinkle free. Aubrey, for her part, hadn't needed to change. As usual, she had donned a pair of trim, khaki slacks and a thin button down blouse. Once satisfied that she was still pressed, Aubrey rummaged through her bag and began to pull out bobby pins.

Chloe frowned to see them, knowing that the next step was for her hair to go up. She knew that she should let her. Aubrey was more comfortable with her hair back but she loved it loose, she loved what it represented about Aubrey, the transformation it showed.

"What is that pout about?"

Chloe jumped knowing her look was a guilty one.

Aubrey eyed her, an eyebrow slowly raising, "Uh huh. I see."

"You don't have to," she said quickly.

"No, no. It's alright."

She smiled, "Are you sure?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes but she was obviously giving in and that made Chloe squeak with excitement and throw her arms around her. "Thanks."

"Hello? Anyone home?" The downstairs door closed.

Beca blanched and even Aubrey paused, her eyes a little too wide.

"Am I interrupting something, y'all?"

"Did she just-" Aubrey started but Chloe didn't let her finish.

"Guys. Come here." She curled her arms around them, hugging them in tightly. "It's going to be amazing. I promise. I'm so excited for them to know you. Please don't worry so much, okay? You both are amazing, you're totes my favorite people. They'll like you too. The very worst that is going to happen today is I promise you someone is going to say something embarrassing. That's it. And then we'll be embarrassed but we'll move on, okay? It's going to be great. You guys are great."

She felt Beca relax a little, sighing as her forehead rested against Chloe's cheek. Aubrey just smiled, as always seeming a little surprised that anyone could ever care for her that much.

"Okay. I'm going to go downstairs." She caught both in a lingering kiss, one after the other, her stomach giving small back flips as she did and then skipped toward the door, calling, "Come down whenever you're ready," over her shoulder.

"And what were you up to?"

Chloe had expected the teasing though so she only rolled her eyes and kissed her mom's cheek, "Nothin', Mama. They're just getting changed."

"Did they get here okay?"

"Yup." Chloe grinned, going to the counter and helping her mother pull the ingredients for their dinner out of the reusable shopping bags.

"They alright?"

Chloe frowned, her nose giving a scrunch, "They're so nervous, Mama, you have to tell everyone not to give them a hard time."

"I already did," her mom laughed, "But if they're going to make it with this wild bunch then they might have to take a joke or two."

Her frown grew, "I know, but this is the _first time!"_

"One of many I hope."

Chloe bit her lip to swallow her grin. "Me too. That would be awesome." She hadn't been able to stop picturing how it might be now: Christmas' with the massive Beale horde, Beca and Aubrey at her side, Aubrey helping her mom make Christmas dinner, Beca drinking a beer and laughing with her dad. In her mind, she saw her family calling on Facetime to sing happy birthday to her loves, or calling because they saw something they thought Aubrey or Beca might like, or they had a question about music or what color to redo their floors. She could see Beca and Aubrey absorbed into her family, creating something massive and perfect and wonderful.

Chloe was just beginning to wonder where they were, if perhaps Beca had maybe had another panic attack, when Sammy began to bark like mad, his nails clicking on the flooring. There was a squeak that she was sure came from Beca and Chloe bit her cheek. Sammy had taken to both of them immediately, however, he was a very large dog and Beca was a very small woman. It didn't make for a great match.

"No teasing, okay?" She insisted in a fast whisper. "And no questions."

"I know, I know, Pooh. You already made me promise that I wouldn't ask any questions about your sex life until after dinner."

" _Second_ bottle of wine!"

"Uh-huh," her eyes glittering her mom leaned forward and hissed, "but who is the top? Is it Beca? It's Beca, isn't it? Oooh, but you said Aubrey was the bossy one, right?"

She knew that she was only doing it to tease, still she felt her cheeks warm, "Mama!" She threw a baby carrot at her.

"Okay," she gave in with a good-natured laugh, "best behavior."

Chloe just glared.

She couldn't help it. She just couldn't. The moment she looked over her shoulder and saw them standing there, looking so nervous, her heart exploded. How could it not? They both looked so eager to put their best self forward. Aubrey's eyes flicked between herself and her mother while Beca just shoved her hands into her pockets, leaning a little against Aubrey.

They were so beautiful, and wonderful, and perfect and she loved them both so much.

"Hey you." She smiled, her head giving a nod for them to come and join her. "Mama, this is,"

"Aubrey and Beca!" Her mother smiled warmly, reaching for each woman as she named them and, holding their one hand in her two, pulled them in for a hug. "It's so wonderful to meet you, I'm Samantha."

Both looked surprised, Aubrey even looking like she might combust at the sudden contact but both nodded, offering polite 'nice to meet you, ma'ams'.

Chloe was bubbling with pride; so much so that she could barely remain in place. She bounced a little, her hands itching to touch some part of both of them. She reached forward and grabbed Aubrey's hand, while pulling Beca back to her so that she could rest her chin on her shoulder.

Beca gave her a tentative smile and Chloe smiled back.

"So how was the flight, ladies?" Her mother asked, heading to the coffee maker and beginning a new batch.

"I'm sorry we don't have an airport a little closer! They keep talking about giving us one but I'm starting to feel like that might just be a pipe dream."

Aubrey gave a nod, "It was fine, ma'am. Beca here slept the whole way."

"Yeah, well, _someone_ on insisted making so much noise when she got back from the gym this morning."

Samantha laughed, "Are you not a morning person like Chloe, Beca?"

"I don't know," Beca laughed a little, eyeing Chloe again, "I'm not sure I'm quite as bad as Chloe."

"Hey!" she cried, and gave Beca a little push.

Still chuckling Aubrey looked over the mass of ingredients on the counter, "Samantha, can I help in any way?"

"Mmm, right, yeah! Me too." Beca stepped forward, taking the bag that Samantha was folding up, doing it herself and then putting them in the drawer that her mother pointed to.

"I don't know, Mama, you might not want to let Beca anywhere near the food."

Aubrey immediately began to laugh while Beca's cheeks turned pink and she glared a little at both of them.

"Not the best cook?"

"Well," Chloe bit her lip and, giving Beca a little teasing nudge, told the story of one of the misadventures that Beca had over the last few weeks in the kitchen.

"Okay, to be fair, I was always told that alcohol wasn't _actually_ flammable!" Beca cried at the end.

Chloe's mother's eyebrows drew into a playful thin line, "Well, as much as I would love the help, I am very fond of my kitchen. So why don't you take this," she handed Beca a cup of coffee, "sit down and tell me about yourself while Aubrey and I cook, hmm?"

Teeth snagging her lip, Chloe grinned at Aubrey.

As time went on Chloe could feel both of her girlfriends relaxing under her mom's kind but interested questioning, something that pleased Chloe to no end. So, when her sister, the one just above her, Maddie, came flying in the front door yelling, it was all Chloe could do not to pummel her.

The front door slammed open, and without so much as announcing her presence Maddie yelled, "Ma! Are you _really telling me_ that I can't find a boyfriend but Chloe has _two_ girlfriends? Really? You're kidding, right? Was one not good enough, the fucking overachiever!"

The whole kitchen froze, Beca and Aubrey looking like skittish deer that were about to bolt. Her mom, mid chop, looked at Chloe, her face as red as her hair as she tried to keep in her laughter.

"Mom!" Chloe cried. It was so not funny!

A hiss of laughter escaped Samantha before she clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Chloe, you're a total _freak_ and I hope you're here to-" her sister came flying into the kitchen and stopped dead. As usual she was lugging a purse, her laptop bag, and several bags of groceries. As soon as she saw the filled kitchen, she dropped the bags, her mouth going as round as a saucer. "Oh holy shit." She cackled, "My bad. You're here already."

"Madeleine!" Her mother chided, looking far too casual for Chloe's tastes.

Beca looked frantically at Chloe and then at Aubrey.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Chloe bellowed, not minding that she didn't usually swear. Maybe Beca was rubbing off on her.

Maddie, however, was laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you guys were here already. I was just teasing." She hugged her, something which Chloe only barely allowed and then offered a hand to her girlfriends.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm Maddie. The family dick. Hi."

"Maddie!" Chloe gave her a shove but while Aubrey still looked like she was about to blow a gasket, Beca smirked.

"Chloe's just selfish. That's all."

"Beca!" Aubrey hissed, but the air of the room changed as Beca and Maddie began to laugh.

"Yeah she is," Maddie gave a melodramatic sigh. "Did you order one and got two by mistake, what the hell, man?"

"Mmm," Beca gave a nod, her hands going back to her pockets, "two for one sale."

Maddie beamed at Chloe, "I like this one."

Chloe rolled her eyes, her annoyance softening, "The other one is pretty good too."

"Oh yeah? What's up, Lurch?"

Aubrey's lips pursed, "Hello, Maddie."

Maddie opened her mouth to say something but, instead of coming back with a witty retort, Aubrey scooped up some of the salsa she had been making and plopped it into Maddie's mouth.

"Mmm, yup." Maddie nodded, "Like this one too."

Aubrey smiled to herself as Chloe sent her a wink.

"So, Mama." Maddie turned to their mother, pouring herself a cup of coffee, "Where is everyone staying? I wanna put my shit away but I'm thinking that somehow Chlo's twin bed isn't going to cut it this trip."

Chloe gaped. She hadn't thought of that. She had never needed anything larger than a twin growing up and sharing a room with Maddie, she had never wanted it. She had always opted for more space on her side.

"Oh shoot." Her mother looked around the kitchen, crunching on a chip, "I didn't think of _that_!"

Aubrey's cheeks were swiftly going from pale to pink to red, "I'm sure that Beca and I can take a couch, or anything that is available."

"Oooh, what about the floor, Bree?" Chloe probably shouldn't have said it, she hadn't meant to embarrass her, yet it was clear that Aubrey knew exactly what the joke was. Aubrey's cheeks burned even brighter as Chloe smirked at her, Beca spluttering like a dying car.

"Oh no," Samantha shook her head, "not the floor."

"Ma." Maddie said patiently, "That was clearly a joke…between them."

Samantha just rolled her eyes.

"We can take Tover's room. He has a full at least. We won't fit, but we can pull out the air mattress and at least be in the same room."

"Come on." She reached for Aubrey's hand, "help me carry out bags."

Aubrey nodded, her eyes still blown a little too wide, her cheeks so red they looked like they hurt.

"Way to keep your cool," Chloe teased once they were back in her bedroom, gathering up Chloe's bags as well as each of theirs.

"I'm sorry!" Aubrey laughed, "It just made me remember-"

"What?" Chloe grinned, teasing. "What did you remember?"

"Oh hush."

"Bree!" She chided, pulling her in by the shoulders and kissing her neck, "You gotta loosen up a little bit."

"Uh huh."

"Really though."

"Uh huh."

Chloe laughed and, rolling her eyes, pulled her down the hall.

"So, do you think I should take the air mattress tonight? I'm the longest. Or maybe you should, since you kick so badly." Aubrey smiled at her as she said it, setting their things down politely in the corner.

"I do not!" Chloe gasped, fully aware that she did indeed move a lot in her sleep.

"Or perhaps we should give it to Beca, as she's the smallest."

"Does anyone have to?" She frowned, pulling Aubrey in and giving her a light kiss.

"Um, well we can sleep on top of one another like flapjacks, or," she saw Chloe's smirk and rolled her eyes.

"Chloe," Aubrey said, her hands falling to Chloe's hips, "do you think it's going well? Do you think that they like us?"

She nodded, taking a seat on the bed, "My mom likes you. Maddie likes you. _I_ like you."

Aubrey grinned a little, that silly free grin that Chloe loved and they saw only in the privacy of their own space. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Come here." She pulled her in, "You're doing great." She said as she kissed her.

Aubrey just made a noncommittal sound.

"Hey. I'm kissing you, here. You're supposed to be totally swayed."

"Oh. I'm very sorry."

She pulled her in closer, cupping the back of her neck and kissing again. "That's better."

Chloe just sighed. This day was so great, seeing her with her family, in her childhood home, seeing them both there as stirring, claiming in a way she hadn't really thought about before. Like they really were hers now.

She wished Beca were upstairs with them. Or that they could be home for a little bit.

"Mm, Chlo?"

"Hmm?" She hummed, sucking a little on Aubrey's bottom lip.

"What are you doing, Chlo?"

Chloe smirked, "I'm helping you relax. Duh."

"Oh. Chloe." Aubrey squeaked as Chloe pulled her in closer. Everyone was busy downstairs, they had a minute, right? That thought, the idea of touching her now was kind of fun. She grinned into her kiss, pushing her back on the bed, her yellow dress easily flipped out of the way of her legs so she could pull herself atop of her. "Chloe!" Aubrey cried, in a hiss. "Your mother is right downstairs! And your sister."

"They're busy." She gave her the best devilish grin she could muster. "Let's make out a little bit. Whatdya say? Just for a minute."

Aubrey just made a sound in her throat, her hands running up Chloe's thighs but her face incredulous.

"How can I help you relax?" She mused as she kissed her ear, her neck, her jaw.

"Relaxing isn't – this isn't – relaxing exactly," Aubrey hiccupped. She was trying to sit up again, but Chloe's hand stopped her, gently trying to undo a few of her buttons so she could reach inside. She just kept looking at Chloe's hand as though she didn't understand what she was seeing.

She grinned as Aubrey's hands ran over the back of her panties, squeezing carefully. "Maybe you'll be relaxed after?"

"After?" Aubrey squawked. "I thought we were talking about kissing."

"We are kissing."

"Chloe!"

"And maybe some touching." She bit her lip, the buttons undone enough that she could reach in and slide under the padding of her bra.

Aubrey hiccupped, her gray eyes wide.

"I think that's exactly what you need. Or maybe it's what I need. I don't know. It's probably totally what Beca needs, since she's been so nervous. Whatev, _someone_ needs it. Why didn't I think of this earlier?"

Aubrey had stopped her pathetic attempt at a fight, her lips parting and pursing in time with Chloe's fingers around her barbell.

"You're so sensitive there," Chloe hummed, her lips attaching to Aubrey's throat.

"What if they catch us?"

Chloe grinned as she lightly sucked on the skin of her collarbone, "They'll be happy to see that I have a good sex life."

"Beca?"

"Mmm," Chloe teasingly thought about it, "Rule number one, Bree. Four in one."

"Oh god." She hissed as Chloe reached for exactly where she wanted to touch, slipping past Aubrey's slacks without difficulty.

"Mmm, I'll be fast."

Aubrey wasn't arguing, instead she gasped, "Just give me five minutes."

"Five minutes?" She scoffed. "Five _whole_ minutes, huh?"

"Shut up." Aubrey growled, but her hand fell to Chloe's arm, pressing it and sending a clear message.

"This is fun," Chloe smirked, biting through her bra where she knew Aubrey's nipple would be. "I never did this as a teenager."

Aubrey, it seemed, wasn't interested in answering.

"We should do this tonight too."

Aubrey just gave a grunt, her hand reaching under Chloe's dress, making her mouth pop open and her face fall to Aubrey's neck, her circling fingers pressing a little harder.

A small hiss of air escaped Aubrey's throat as her hips began to dance, following her gentle sliding.

"Chlo, I-" the door behind them flew open, making Chloe yell and Aubrey scream, grab the pillow and cover her face to hide.

"Bec! Oh my god, you scared me!"

"Dude!" Beca, eyebrows high, quickly clicked the door closed again. " _Dude!_ What are you _doing_?" She hissed, her eyes huge, "There are – _people_ downstairs!"

Chloe grinned, her fingers pressing again and Aubrey let out a moan into the pillow, "I'm helping Aubrey relax." She said it, but she frowned a little. This whole four in one rule was pretty new. Maybe she shouldn't have done this. She had gone to bed with both of them individually and she knew they had with one another too. That hadn't been as scary or as hard as she previously had thought it would be. Still, this was the first time they had encountered it. She studied Beca's face, searching for upset or discomfort.

Beca's lips parted, her eyes dashing between the two of them.

She tentatively reached for her, picking her gentle stroking back up. "Is this okay?"

Aubrey's soft pant through the cotton pillow was the only response. Beca seemed mesmerized.

Chloe's mouth opened but she paused, her eyebrows thoughtfully tight.

"Bec?"

"Yeah!" Beca jumped, looking guiltier than she had ever seen her.

"Bec, do you want to watch?"

"What?" Beca scoffed, "That would be weird, like, so weird, right? Totally –weird – of me."

"Beca?"

Beca's eyes were slightly unfocused, lingering at the spot where Chloe's hand disappeared under Aubrey's pants.

"People downstairs," she said vaguely.

Beca had always been the one to enjoy watching more than the others. The look on her face now, it was interesting. She moved, sliding again and Aubrey's back bowed, still hidden under the pillow.

"I uh-"

"Come here." Chloe grabbed Beca's wrist, her body suddenly thrumming in a whole new way. "Sit down." She had never thought of this possibility.

"People. Downstairs."

"Then I guess we have to hurry."

Was this weird? She felt like it was weird. It _was_ weird, but also so, so hot.

Beca sat with a thump on the side of the mattress, her eyes spinning between them like a kaleidoscope.

Satisfied Chloe moved again, this time pushing, moving quickly, her eyes on Beca.

This was – awesome. The look on Beca's face was -

Aubrey's hips began to move again, a few strangled sounds coming up from the pillow and, almost as though she was doing it on autopilot, Beca reached behind her and clicked on the bedside radio.

"Oh my god!" Chloe laughed. "We're not even in New Orleans!"

"What the fuck?" Aubrey gasped as the song began to play.

 _'… I ran into a friend of mine, I said I'm kinda stuck. He said no problem buddy, you can use my truck. I roared out of Grand Isle, heading up the bayou-ya, driving like a man whose pants were on fire-ya. The cops gave chaise and they finally ran me down. They said, your burning like a rocket through the middle of my town. They would have locked me up, but you know they let me go. 'Cuz they heard all about my mommas' gumbo…'_

"You're kidding!" Beca groaned, turning to click the radio off.

"Wait." The song was horrible, totally terrible, but suddenly, in this position, she didn't hate it so much anymore. It made her think of the early days of their friendship.

"Alright." Beca said, her eyebrows high.

"Thanks." Chloe smirked, biting her lip and then pulled Beca in for a kiss.

"Bree? Are you okay under there?" She asked in a hum as her fingers began to dance with purpose, Beca's face going all at once unfocused again.

"I- I – I'm fine – I,"

Trance-like, Beca reached for the pillow and pulled it away from Aubrey's face, giving Chloe a little nod.

She _likes_ it, Chloe mused.

She wasn't sure who was more satisfying to watch as Aubrey's orgasm eventually hit. Aubrey was one of her favorite things to see, her face always so open, happy and free but this time, Beca's eyes were so drawing, so focused. Her hands had balled in her lap and slowly as Aubrey grew closer and closer those fists clenched tighter, digging into her thigh. Chloe – she had nearly – it was – she didn't even know, but she had gotten so close herself, just watching Beca's face; which made her think.

"I don't know what just happened to me." Beca gaped as Aubrey's small panting finally slowed. She looked like she had a head injury. "Chlo, what just happened to me?"

"I think you liked it, Bec."

There were so many possibilities for them. She had just done that. She had just _had Beca here_ while with Aubrey and it hadn't been embarrassing, or scary, or hard. If anything, she felt a little closer to Beca, having seen her in such a vulnerable state – and Aubrey as well.

"Bec," she pulled her in, giving her a long, heated kiss as her hand clutched at Aubrey's fingers, locking them together. What had she ever been so afraid of? "I love you. I love you both so much."

Beca just groaned, her hands closing greedily on Chloe's hips.

"Chloe! Mom just put on Alanis and needs you! Stop kissing your girlfriends!" Maddie's voice came from downstairs.

"Wha-" Aubrey sat up fast but Chloe just laughed.

"They don't actually know."

Still, both Beca and Aubrey spluttered.

"I'm gonna go clean up, but," she paused, grinning, "I think we should try that again later."

Beca's cheeks went pink.

Downstairs the familiar CD was blaring. Her mom had been a hopelessly devoted Alanis fan since Chloe was a little girl and now hearing the first few lines of 'All I Really Want' she couldn't help but to smile, dancing a little as she sang along.

How could she not?

This might be the best day of her life.

"Here, cut these up."

"'Kay, Mama." Chloe grinned, seeing the smirk on her mom's face.

"You have fun?"

"What?" She gave an innocent shoulder shrug.

"You're glowing, Pooh."

She rolled her eyes, willing her face not to show anything condemning. "What do you mean? I was just showing them baby pictures."

"Sure you were, Pooh." Samantha smiled.

Chloe stuck her tongue out at her and started singing again.

Beca and Aubrey came back down as 'You Oughta Know' began and Chloe couldn't help but to smile as she sang along, her voice loud and happy with her mom's, singing as they had a million times over the years.

As always Sammy came running in, barking loudly. He had never been a big fan of their singing. Chloe laughed, singing to him a little louder and tossing an asparagus stalk his way.

He caught it, barked and then howled along.

Beca leaned against the kitchen island, "I see where Chloe gets that voice, ma'am. Wow."

Samantha just laughed, "Oh enough with the ma'am shit, Beca. Sam or Samantha. You too, Aubrey."

Aubrey looked startled but Beca just threw her head back and laughed.

Chloe went back to her task, taking the cup of coffee her mom handed her as she diced until the chorus came and with so many years of practice shouted with her, _"I'm here – to remind you – of the mess you left when you went away!_ " She dumped the asparagus into the pot and started on the next batch, enjoying the simple act of singing with her mother as they scooted this way and that crying, _"You – you – you – oughta knoooow!_ " They each had their favorite parts and in turned bellowed them along with the angry Alanis. She wasn't paying attention to how stupid she probably looked. She felt like a cup filled to the brim at that moment.

"You should hear them when 'Uninvited' comes on," Maddie said.

Chloe looked up, already smiling in embarrassment. She had been singing a little crazily hadn't she? Sure enough both of them were watching her, twin looks of amusement on their faces.

"What?" She bit her lip, her cheeks going from warm to hot. "It's a good song," she said as the track came to an end.

"Oh yeah, Chlo. We can see you think so." Beca laughed.

"Oh my god, shut up. Don't make fun of me."

Beca grinned, reaching over and pulling her to her. She kissed her temple and then her cheek, whispering, "We love you."

Chloe gave a giggle, melting from the inside out.

She wasn't the only one, suddenly two others were giving loud 'awwweeee's from behind them.

Chloe turned to see her mother, her hand over her heart, looking like she might cry.

"Right." Beca laughed, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck, "And with that, I'm gonna go crawl in a hole." She turned to go but Chloe caught her, forcing her to stay as the next track started and she began to sing again.

It was much the same as it had been with Maddie when Astrid, Tover, and Evan arrived, all joking and teasing but thankfully it seemed as though the seal had been broken on the day and neither Aubrey nor Beca were in the same nervous state that they had been in before.

It wasn't until it was an hour to dinner and they all heard a car in the driveway that Beca and Aubrey once again froze.

"Is that your father?"

"Don't worry, Bree," Maddie laughed, getting up and refilling her glass of wine for her. "He's a teddy bear."

Still both Aubrey and Beca scrambled to their feet, having found sitting places on the couch in the living room.

"Right. Okay. You're dad's here." Beca rambled. "He's here. Right."

"Beca," Samantha laughed, a hand going to her arm, "Grey won't bite you."

"Right." Beca gave a hollow laugh but neither of her girlfriends looked settled.

It was the dads in their family, Chloe knew, that were the forces to be reckoned with. Beca rarely spoke of her mother and Mrs. Posen, well, she had barely spoken when they had all met. It was The General who steered Aubrey, as much as he could, with an iron fist and Francis that always took Beca's good days and made them bad.

Chloe thought it must have been a strange sight for her dad when he walked into the living room and two strangers were standing there, staring at him like they were terrified.

"Well hello," was all he said, looking between the two of them and then taking in the rest of his family.

Neither Beca nor Aubrey moved.

A little amused, Chloe finally stood after a few seconds and went to him. "Hey, Dad." She smiled, letting him wrap her in a hug. He was the sweetest man she had ever known, possibly the sweetest alive. Still she whispered, "Be nice" in his ear before he set her back down.

"So, you must be Beca and Aubrey!"

Aubrey finally stepped forward, her hand outstretched.

Greyson ignored the hand entirely and grabbed her girlfriend up in a hug, lifting so with a small little mouse squeak and a look like she was having an aneurysm, Aubrey's feet left the floor.

"So ladies," Greyson asked as their plates were finally full and the family began eating with enthusiasm. "How did you meet?"

Beca and Aubrey had done well with her dad, she thought. That is, once they had been able to wipe away their stunned faces at having been lifted off the ground in the kind of bear hug that Chloe had known her whole life. Aubrey had only compulsively called him 'sir' about twenty times before she had finally blushed when he had thrown his arm around her and insisted that if she did it one more time then he was going to dunk her in the pool.

"Well, si, um, Grey. My brother and I went on a tour through the French Quarter a few months after arriving and it happened to be Chloe's."

"Mmm," Chloe chuckled, dabbing her mouth with a napkin, "Bree was really helpful. She had a lot of facts that she helped me with."

"You?" Tover snorted, "I find that hard to believe."

"It should be," Beca mumbled.

Chloe chucked a dinner roll at her.

"We were friends," she said with a shrug, "and then more."

"But how does that _happen_?" Astrid asked in a whisper.

Aubrey choked on her wine while Chloe rolled her eyes, "Astrid."

"Alright, alright, you're right. I'm sorry."

And that was the most drama that dinner brought.

After they all settled in the living room where Beca and Aubrey were questioned a little more, but Chloe was glad to see that it was reasonable.

It wasn't until the hour had grown late that there was any awkwardness and even then, it only came from Aubrey.

"They are just _fine_ with us sharing a room?" She hissed in Chloe's ear as they helped to wash up the last bit of the plates before bed.

"Of course! Why wouldn't they be?"

"I don't know, Chlo." Beca laughed, giving her a pointed look as if reminding her of that afternoon.

"Oh please! When Tover was sixteen my mom was the one who took him to planned parenthood to get his first condoms. When I was sixteen it was my mom who made sure I always had things for safe sex with men _and_ women. We're not teenagers anymore guys. Would you rather sleep down here with Sammy?"

Aubrey frowned.

"I didn't think so."

"Are you all set, ladies?"

"Yes, ma'am." Aubrey nodded making both Chloe and Samantha roll their eyes.

"Okay good. If you need anything Chloe knows where it is." Chloe watched as her mom pulled first Beca into a hug and then Aubrey. "It was so nice to meet you both. We're not big Easter people, but if you're free then please come for the fourth of July. Gray always has a big barbeque."

"Oh," Aubrey blinked a few times, "yes. Absolutely. That would be nice."

"You're welcome anytime."

"Thank you, Samantha."

"And you," her mom eyed her before giving her a big wet kiss on the forehead, "be good."

"Mom!"

"Don't 'Mom' me! Make sure your guests are comfortable!"

Chloe just growled and clicked the kitchen light off.

They changed and together Chloe and Aubrey climbed into the full size bed while Beca flopped down on the air mattress.

"Dude, this sucks." Beca moaned.

"I know." Chloe frowned, propping her chin on Aubrey's stomach so she could see Beca. "Do you want to try?"

Beca eyed the bed, "I don't think I'll fit."

"Oh come on! You're tiny." She hated the idea of one of them being so far away.

"Dude."

"Beeeeec!"

"Alright, Jesus." She got up and tried to force herself in beside Aubrey, who laughed and caught her as she nearly toppled right back out again.

"Dude – not – working," she grunted, trying to find a spot.

"Oh come on! We can do this!" She cried, but she was laughing, watching as Beca finally gave up and simply crawled on top of Aubrey.

"There. I found a place. This is no big deal, right? We can totally do this all night."

"Sure." Aubrey said with a laugh. "I don't like sleeping anyway."

"Chlo." Beca leaned over and gave her chin a kiss, "I don't think this is working."

She frowned.

"It's one night."

"I know, but,"

Beca gave a sudden squawk as she tried to readjust her leg and fell back to the air mattress with a thump.

"Goddamnit!" She whined, gasping for the air she had just lost, "Why is it always me falling off of tiny beds?"

They spent a second teasing her before they fell silent, each thinking.

"So was it okay, guys?" She finally asked.

It was Aubrey who responded first. "Yes. It was. Your family is very nice, Chloe."

"Kind of explains a lot about you, actually," Beca added.

"Do you guys think," her heart suddenly fluttered, a little nervous, "you think you would want to maybe come back? Did you like them?"

Aubrey's head turned, affectionately pushing some of her hair back and kissing her.

The kiss made her hum, blissfully content.

"I would, actually, Chloe. Thank you."

She nodded, a bit abashed and just let her head fall to Aubrey's chest.

"Guys?" Beca said after another few moments of sleepy silence. "Not really down to be alone on the floor again."

Chloe frowned. The air mattress had to be larger than the bed, right? She gave Aubrey a little push, deciding to at least try.

Aubrey's eyebrow rose and then, amused and perhaps exasperated, Aubrey moved, going to Beca's far side. Chloe all but threw herself down, cuddling into Beca despite the fact that she was sure she would probably end up on the floor by the end of the night.

"Mmmm, this is better."

Beca just nodded.

* * *

Chloe had been right about falling out of the mattress. She wasn't sure how late it was when she suddenly gave a start, and realized she was laying in the crack between air mattress and the bed. For a moment she glared at the ceiling, annoyed and scooted closer to Beca. Maybe this idea wasn't such a great one.

She tried to go back to sleep, only it seemed that her body didn't want to.

She sighed, her thoughts drifting over her dissertation. She hadn't finished as much of it as she had wanted to. She had been too excited and nervous about the day.

She tried to push the thoughts away, but they didn't' seem to want to go. She was too awake.

Finally, annoyed, she pulled herself up. If she was going to be awake then she might as well be productive. She went to the desk and picked up her laptop and then tiptoed out the door.

Only, when she headed down the stairs she was surprised to see she wasn't the only one awake.

"What are you doing up?"

Her mother was at the kitchen island, her phone in her hand as a TV show played quietly. "Your dad is snoring again."

"Uh-oh." Chloe laughed, sitting down beside her. "Did you roll him over?"

Samantha laughed, "These days rolling him over just makes it worse. Why are you up?"

She shrugged.

"Going to work on your paper?"

"Maybe. I'd rather talk to you though."

"Is that so?"

"Yup." She grinned at her mom as she rose and went to the kitchen.

"In that case then." Her mom handed her a beer and sat across from her, eyes glowing with a youthful amused curiosity. She looked like someone who was ready for the best gossip of their life. "Are you going to answer my questions yet?"

"What?" Chloe asked and then groaned, her head falling to the table. "Maaaaaam!"

"Oh come on, Chloe!"

"There isn't a _top_! This isn't a 90's lesbian film. We, I dunno, take turns."

"Really?" Samantha have a thoughtful hum, "Beca's so small."

Chloe smirked, coming out of her hiding place, "Beca can carry her own."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

Her mom took a long drink of her beer and Chloe waited, knowing there would be more. "Is it difficult? Sometimes I feel like I'm going to strangle your dad, I can't imagine having two of him."

"I don't know, Mom, they're both so different that it's hard to compare, you know?"

"How did it happen?"

"We were friends but something was missing. We found it after we kissed."

"It doesn't make you uncomfortable at all?"

"It does." Chloe blew out a deep breath, thinking of that afternoon and smiling, "Or it did, I don't know. I'm working on it though. I actually broke up with them because of it."

"Chloe!"

"I know, I know!" She cried.

"Shame on you."

"I know, Mama, I just wasn't sure if this was for me. It's so different."

"Is it?"

Chloe thought, really thought about that for the first time, "No. Not really. They kept telling me that it wouldn't be and they were right I guess. At least so far. But I was scared at first, you know? I didn't think that things were supposed to look like this. I didn't think love was supposed to look like this."

Her mother sighed, setting down her bottle and taking Chloe's hands. She knew she was about to get scolded and yet Chloe wasn't nervous, ready for whatever her Mom said. "There's no way of knowing what _things_ are _supposed_ to look like. It's different for everyone."

"I know."

"And," her mother brought her knuckles up to her lips and kissed them, "and you seem happy, Pooh. You seem really happy."

"I am. I think," she gave a little nod as she thought, "I think this might be the right thing for me. Beca and Aubrey-" she tried to explain but she found that she didn't know how. "They're everything, Mom."

"Are they?" There were tears in her mom's eyes again, a smile on her face that Chloe wasn't sure she had ever seen there before, a kind that she wasn't sure she would understand until she was a mother herself.

"Yeah. They are." She smiled, suddenly wishing that she was upstairs still trying to find room for herself on the too small air mattress. "I think this is really good, Mom. I think, if we work at it we can have something real here. Something lasting."

A tear spilled over that her Mom hastily wiped away, "Sweetie, I'm so glad." She let herself be pulled up, sinking into her mother's tight hug. "I think they are both wonderful women."

Chloe nodded, surprised when her Mom's emotion pulled her own up from the pit of herself. They _were_ amazing women. The thought that she had so recently run from them seemed horrible now. How could she have given this up?

"Alright, Pooh, it's late. Come on. Work on that tomorrow. Let's head back to bed before people start wondering where we are."

"Okay, Mama."

They walked up the stairs together, hand in hand and paused outside of the room that Chloe was sharing.

Her mom smiled and kissed her hand, "Goodnight, my sweet girl. See you in the morning."

"Night, Mama. Love you."

She slipped back into the dark room, careful not to make too much noise. The spot she had left had been filled in so she did her best to slide into the space between them. Beca gave a groan, turning so that she didn't fall and settling most of her body over Chloe's. She didn't mind at all. Instead she pulled the blanket up and turned her head so that it was resting against Aubrey's back.

They were amazing women.

She smiled a little as Beca sighed and, almost as if she could feel it too, Aubrey sighed back.

They were amazing. This was amazing. And she was going to hold on to it as long as possible.

* * *

Author's note:

So the longer this posts the more I wonder if people won't be disappointed in what happened with Bumper/that it wasn't a bigger deal. So I wanted to say two things.  
One, Chad didn't have a leg to stand on. He was horrible.  
Two, the issue isn't done. I can promise something will be happening in the sequel.

That's all for now! On to the epilogue! Thanks for reading guys! I'm shocked as to how amazing the response was!


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chloe**_

* * *

"Relax!" Chloe cried, laughing a little as Aubrey was shoved this way and that. "It's like the ocean, just move with the crowd!"

"This isn't a crowd! This is a mob, Chloe! There is a difference!"

Aubrey wasn't entirely wrong. Normally where they were standing was the middle of an intersection, the intersection of St Charles and Terpsichore but the street had been transformed from it's plain day setup to the night magic of the holiday. Lines, well maybe more like mobs, of people ten deep closed all passage onto Terpsichore, not that anyone was coming down St Charles to try. That street had been blocked off by police so the floats could pass by. Someone pressed into Chloe's back, jerking her forward hard, his hand waving in her face trying desperately to catch some of the beads that the float was tossing out.

Aubrey let out a little scream as a handful of green, purple and gold beads came flying at her. The scream was pointless though as, with a shove at the guy against her back, Chloe reached out at the last second and snatched them from the air. She smirked around her. She had evaded the twenty hands all reaching for the same thing with the skill of a professional. "Oh yeah!" She cried, punking the asshole behind her. "Who dat steelin' dem beads! Don't mess with a local, baby!"

He rolled his eyes and drunkenly pushed away, moving a few more people down. Aubrey just blinked, stunned at Chloe's level of enthusiasm as well as, Chloe had to assume, her ninja bead catching skills. Chloe smirked at her and carefully put them around Aubrey's neck, giving her jaw a kiss as she did it.

This was amazing. The noise had reach cacophony level, each float mixing with the next, mixing with people screaming or drunkenly fighting, or doing whatever the party and the night pushed them to do.

"Fuck man! No fair!" Another man behind her bellowed. "You're like two feet tall!"

"You just gotta be quick on your feet."

"Bitch." He mumbled, turning to look at the next krewe coming through.

"Excuse me?" Aubrey bellowed, just drunk enough to be willing to fight for Chloe's virtue.

"Bree! Let's move!" She glared at him. "This spot smells bad anyway. Come on."

The problem with moving anywhere during Mardi Gras was that it was pretty much impossible.

"EXCUSE US!" She bellowed over the parade of steel drums passing down St Charles, big huge shooting star puppets on poles floating in the air above them while people in painted faces danced and moved them from the ground. "EXCUSE – US!"

She pushed through the crowd and broke through the sea of stubborn people. It wasn't a lot of relief though because while a walkway down St. Charles was still there, it was about ten inches wide and constantly shifting as the sea of people moved.

"When is Beca's krewe?" Aubrey yelled as Chloe pushed and prodded her way through the crowd, past people selling food and beer, and use of their portapotties, past grand St Charles houses where parties were being held, or with BBQ's grilling up on their second story patios.

"I think she said Nyx is after the Druids!"

"When is that?"

"I don't know! But if you see a float with people in white masks then tell me!"

"What?"

Chloe just shook her head, knowing it was far too loud for this conversation.

A drunk man fell across her feet, nearly taking her down to Aubrey's knees. Chloe just laughed and stepped over him.

It took them twenty minutes to push and shove their way down on city block to Euterpe and by the time they got there they were breathless. There was nowhere good to stand so they just shoved their way in, displacing other people who either swore or were too drunk to notice.

"Oh! Bree!" Chloe gave a yank to her hand and pointed down the street. "Look."

Aubrey let out a small scream, "No, I don't like that!"

"You're much more screamy when you're drunk." Chloe noted and then hearing her own words she waggled her eyebrows, looking forward to finding out exactly how true that would be later that night.

Aubrey missed her thick innuendo though, still staring apprehensively at the next float.

Coming very slowly up the street was a clown head, easily two stories high, giant and leering on the front of the float. It's eyes were twisted and it's devilish grin not quite able to hide the vampire like canines. Aubrey shrank away but Chloe pulled her back.

"It's the druids!" And indeed, behind the monstrous head on the float itself were white faced men in long cloaks. "Lift me up!" She turned abruptly to Aubrey, laughing at the look on her face.

"What?"

"Come on, lift me up and I'll see if I can see Nyx behind them at all."

"Chloe!" Aubrey rolled her eyes with an exasperation that was oh so familiar. "I can't pick you up!"

"Sure you can! You did before!" She smirked, her hand sliding up Aubrey's arm at the memory.

"I-" Aubrey stammered, her cheeks going pink. Chloe bit her lip to hide her giggle. "That had been - that was different - I had - _motivation_!"

"You mean I was naked."

Aubrey glanced around but the crowd was so loud that they couldn't hear the conversation that they were screaming into one another's ear.

Still, Aubrey didn't answer and Chloe grinned. Aubrey's non-answers were her favorite answers of all.

"What if I give you a little motivation?" She asked in her ear, letting her accent flow out thick and strong, like it did while they were wrapped together. "Can you lift me up then?" She asked, letting her tongue trace the shell of her ear.

She felt Aubrey begin to stammer again, her hands clasping her hips and she smirked, pulling Aubrey in for a long deep kiss. Aubrey groaned, her fingers slipping under Chloe's shirt to the small of her back, pulling her in tighter.

Chloe let herself be pulled, loving the way that Aubrey held her like she needed her.

"Have I ever told you that I love drunk Aubrey?"

"I am _not_ drunk!"

"Oh, baby," Chloe laughed with affection. "You're not sober."

"Shut up."

Chloe threw her head back and laughed.

"I still can't pick you up."

Chloe gave a pout, "Fine. Save it for special occasions." She sent Aubrey a wink and turning, began to scream with the other parade goers. Chloe could still feel Aubrey's hands on her hips and so she leaned back, bouncing in place, her hand in the air as everyone else's was, in hopes of a throw.

They spent a while like that, screaming and jumping and trying to catch beads, Aubrey's hands on Chloe as she danced playfully against her.

"Oh my god, Bree! Bree! Oh my god!" Chloe suddenly screamed, excitement coursing through her, "It's Nyx! It's Nyx!" She pointed down the street to the giant head of Cinderella and her glass slipper. "Come on!" She started to push.

Getting up to the front line in a parade was a little like an extreme sport; only the strongest would survive. She elbowed and pushed, pulling Aubrey along with her as she screamed, "EX-CUSE ME - OUR - GIRLFRIEND - IS - ON - THAT - FLOAT," and though she was sweating by the time she made it, she did in fact make it and with half a block of time left before the opening Nyx float was there.

Even if she hadn't known this was Beca's float, or at least the first of many, she would have been able to tell from the music. It was loud, far louder than the last had been, twisting and bopping, it was loudly feminine as it mixed 'Who Run the World' and something else that Chloe knew was an original for Beca; a perfect mix for the all-female krewe.

"That's my girlfriend's music!" Chloe announced with pride to the stranger next to her.

He either didn't care or didn't hear, but it didn't matter either way. Chloe was bubbling with pride.

The float began to approach and they started to scream, jumping and dancing as Beca's music swirled around them like a sensual caress. It sounded like her, it teased like her and Chloe found it intoxicating. The triple decker float, alright with christmas lights and flashing this and that's finally reached them and they both looked around, wild. They had no idea if they would see her.

"BECA! BECA!"

"Chloe!" Aubrey pointed and there she was, looking wildly sexy on the bottom level, dancing her heart out.

Unlike all of the other women who were in corsets and bloomers, Beca was in her usual jeans and a tank despite the coolish weather.

Aubrey and Chloe exchanged a grin and started screaming, jumping up and down and waving.

Beca looked up at her name and glanced around.

"BECA!" Chloe grinned, waving like a maniac.

They saw more than heard Beca screaming, "Oh my god!" and then she disappeared for a moment, only to reappear at the tail end of the float where they clearly attached roll away stairs.

Aubrey shrieked her hands going over her eyes when Beca, without seeming to think about the six-foot drop, jumped down.

"Shit!" Chloe yelped but then her arms were out, laughing and screaming as Beca barreled at them.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" Beca screamed, launching herself at Chloe, who caught her with a little help from Aubrey. "THAT'S MY MUSIC! THAT'S MY FUCKING MUSIC!" While the other two screamed back, "THAT'S YOUR MUSIC! BECA, THAT'S YOUR MUSIC!"

Clearly ecstatic Beca kissed Chloe thoroughly, tasting a little of mint and vodka and then she leaned over and kissed Aubrey before she grinned back at Chloe, seeming to be not at all worried that she was still in Chloe's arms. "BECA! THAT'S YOUR MUSIC! OH MY GOD! THAT'S MY GIRLFRIENDS MUSIC!" She was still shouting, all but jumping up and down.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on your dissertation, young lady?" Beca chided.

"NOPE!" Chloe squealed. "IT'S DONE! I FINISHED! IT'S GETTING SENT IN TOMORROW MORNING!"

"WHAT?" Beca screamed back, finally dropping to the ground. "YOU SAID THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN UNTIL NEXT WEEK!"

She had been working on it tirelessly for the last month and now, finally, it was done. And she was happy to see it go!

"She has an amazing girlfriend!" Aubrey shouted, smirking at Beca. "An amazing girlfriend who has been riding her ass all day."

Chloe grinned. Aubrey really had been amazing.

"Awe!" Beca cried, "You don't have to say that about me, Bree!"

Aubrey just laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god, I'm so proud of you!" Beca grinned while Aubrey kissed her other ear and told her for the fiftieth time that night that she was proud of her as well.

The song behind them transitioned into a new one seamlessly and Beca was screaming again. "OH MY GOD, THAT'S MY MUSIC! I WROTE THAT! GUYS, I WROTE THAT!"

"No shit!" The man next to Chloe and Aubrey shouted. "That's fucking awesome man! Cheers!" He passed over the bottle that he was drinking from and after a moment of hesitation Beca saluted him and took a large gulp, screaming and chocking when a handful of beads hit her in the side of the face.

"AMY!" Beca yelled back at the float but Amy just pretended not to hear her and instead lobbed a plastic sandwich bag at her. "SHIT!" Beca ducked and the beads instead hit the man with the bottle squarely in the chest.

He groaned, rubbing the spot. Chloe knew the feeling. Her third Mardi Gras she had been hit with a bag of beads, the float trying to empty out their stash and it had split her lip.

"Thanks man! Good deal, Lucille!" He grinned, picking it up.

"I like your beads!" Chloe grinned, pulling at the huge balls that surrounded her neck, each more than two inches across.

"Flash me and I might share." Beca grinned.

"Pictures or it didn't happen." Aubrey called back beside her.

Chloe laughed, sandwiching herself between her girls and promising that she would do plenty of flashing later.

* * *

They spent a while enjoying the night then, Beca insisting that she wasn't going to bother to get back on the float despite the fact that she was supposed to be on it all the way to the end where there was a giant ball.

They danced, they bought drinks from a passing vendor, they cheered and screamed.

It wasn't until the music from the Nyx floats began to fade into the Muses float an hour later that they decided to move.

"I hear The Pontchartrain has an amazing party and I get half off of drinks for being part of the parade. Plus, you know, I kind of want to see Chloe in these beads and nothing else so I think we need to go now," Beca had insisted.

Pushing through the crowd now was almost impossible. The ten-inch space had been closed to five, the patrons drunker and rowdier than they were before. She tried to shove her way down but people weren't moving, instead looking at her like she was strange for shoving.

"Let's maybe go in a block and then cross the street later." Beca yelled into her ear.

"Good idea, no crowds."

They pushed backward and thankful, like a drowning man, eventually broke free halfway down the street.

"Oh my god!" Aubrey cried, straightening her clothes. "That's better!"

"How did you even get her out here?" Beca asked, teasing.

"Awe," Chloe gave a friendly pout, "we wanted to hear you!"

"Of course we did." Aubrey laughed, nuzzling Beca's ear in that way that Chloe knew Beca liked.

"You sure you're not going to get in trouble for JESUS FUCK!"

Beca suddenly screamed when a man popped out of the crowd a foot away from them and grabbed Beca's arm.

Chloe swung around, ready to deck someone if she needed to and groaned.

"Chad!"

"Well if it isn't the littlest hobbit."

"Dude," Beca's hand went to her mouth, jumping away. "You reek!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Don't even hit on me right now. I'll puke."

Chad had never been great, it was true, but over the last few weeks the three of them had to admit that he had been horrible. Apparently, he couldn't cope with her girlfriend being a rockstar who could shut his ass down before they ever took one another to court. She smirked at Aubrey, proud as a parent. Aubrey had gathered enough information to blow him out of the water, complaints, mistakes, and even a customer who had wanted to sue him. Chad's lawyer had looked at the stack and had promptly advised Chad to drop it.

He had due to move back to California once all of his contracts closed.

"Pee-Bree, give me your keys."

The quickness of Aubrey's scoff made her laugh, "No way."

"Aubrey give me the keys, I have to piss!" He held his hand out like he actually expected Aubrey to put the keys to her house in his hands.

"You have a dick. Can't you pee anywhere." Beca yelled, waving her hand over her nose and coming to join Chloe.

"Uh yeah," he gave her a sarcastic eye roll, "and I did but when I was spray hosing it earlier this dick cop made me do pushups over the puddle and I fucking fell in it."

All three women took another step back.

"That explains the smell of you."

"Can I have your keys, please?" He was trying for a politer tone and it had not worked in the slightest.

"No, Chad! You'll take off and I won't be able to find you and then I won't be able to get into my _own house_."

"Whatever, you can just have a sleepover with your lezzie friends, bitch."

Chloe whirled, her anger at level ten immediately. She was so sick of Chad. God, no one liked a sore loser, literally no one. "You know wh-" but Aubrey put a hand on her shoulder. For a moment this just made her angrier. She had to stop letting Chad put her through the ringer. She was going to squash him. She was going to kill him!

"Chlo."

She groaned, turning away for a moment and taking a deep breath. She nearly gagged as the scent of Aubrey's brother washed over her again. He was scooting closer because Beca was standing with her. Beca, in turn, was scooting further behind her.

Aubrey took a deep breath, her face thoughtful, "You know what, Chad?"

His hands went to his hips, annoyed. His eyes rolled and next to him Donald laughed. "What, puke face?"

"You're right. Screw it. You're leaving. You're out of my hair."

"What? You gonna give me the keys?" His hand went back out but Aubrey just shook her head, a little condescendingly.

"You're right, Chad. That's the funny thing."

Chloe stared in disbelief.

"I _am_ going to stay with my lezzie friends tonight."

"And? Uh, good for you, I guess?"

"And," Aubrey was advancing on her brother, towering over him with a predatory like grace. Chloe had never realized how much taller she was than him before. "While you're wandering the streets tonight with your little buddy here, smelling like urine, and looking for tree knot that you can stick it into I'll be at home, letting these _two, beautiful, sexy_ women _ride me until they see glory_."

Chloe's jaw dropped, completely unable to believe what she had just heard and so - so _turned_ on.

Beca let out a scream of laughter, as Aubrey gave him a, what could only be called very patriotic, salute. "BOOM!" Beca cried, her hand over her mouth in shock.

Aubrey was laughing, cackling wildly, in a way that Chloe had never seen. She looked _so_ happy suddenly, free. "Oorah, shitbird!" She shouted, punking him as she had just seen Chloe do earlier in the night and giving him the middle finger.

"Oh my god!" Chloe laughed. She couldn't believe it!

Chad was just rolling his eyes, his head nodding as if to say yeah, yeah, laugh it up, "Yeah right, Bree."

Aubrey shrugged, her look somehow cool and scalding all at once. She wrapped an arm around Chloe's waist, who went to her happily, her arms closing around her as well while Aubrey pulled Beca in by the back pocket. She gave a shrug, "I guess you'll never know, will you?"

She was so stunned that she almost didn't notice Aubrey pulling them away, starting down the street.

"Yeah right!" Chad yelled back, "You're kidding, right? You're kidding? Egg head? You're kidding? Aubrey? Aubrey!"

Aubrey was hissing under her breath, almost convulsing she was laughing so hard. "Oh my god, that felt good."

The got to the corner of St Andrew, the street where they would turn if they were heading back to Aubrey's apartment and paused.

"What?" Aubrey looked at their stunned faces.

Suddenly Beca let out a squeal and jumped onto Aubrey's back, kissing her neck.

"Bree!" Chloe shouted because someone needed to say it, " _Babe, you just came out to your brother_! You just came out to him on like two different levels!"

Aubrey smirked, her face both terrified and elated, leaning over her shoulder so she could kiss Beca deeply and then pulling Chloe into her arms. Chloe swooned ever so slightly, wanting to crawl into the kiss she was given. "I guess I did. Shit, I guess I did!"

"He's still back there you know." she smirked. And it was true. Chad had followed them for the rest of the block, his face blank and shocked. He was standing there now, ten feet back, just staring open mouthed.

"He-" Aubrey's breath hitched as Beca began to suck lightly on her neck. Chloe watched her eyes roll and her own hands balled into fists in Aubrey's top. "He is?"

"Umhmm." She let her hand slide, running up the back of Beca's thigh, her own lips grazing Aubrey's throat. She carefully sucked there for a moment, just enough to make a little bubble of unwilling sound pop from Aubrey's lips.

She couldn't help herself. It was petty but she couldn't help it.

She leaned around Aubrey, amused to see that Chad looked like he was going to cry.

Her hand casually cupped Beca's ass, giving it a very possessive rub as she sent him a sly wink.

Aubrey laughed, her hand slipping into Chloe's. "I love you."

Chloe smirked, "Good." She leaned up and gave them both a peck.

"Is he really still there?"

"Yup."

"Well." Aubrey smiled at them both. "Who cares? Come on, ladies. Let's go home."

* * *

 ** _The end_**

Thanks for reading guys! It's been so much fun!  
I do have some one shots from this universe planned and the hope for another something that will be more substantial in the future (who knows). So look out for those! I know for sure I'm going to do some holiday one shots, mardi gras and so on, as well as maybe a baby one shot or two with these guys.  
No idea when, but I have a whole list!

In the meantime, come track me down on Tumblr ( **ioliviajanae** ) and if you're interested in my published works then keep your eye out for 'The Loudest Silence' which should be hitting the shelves soon!  
Also, if you head over to AO3 or to my Tumblr you'll find a series of fan art works including art per chapter as well as a few awesome social media posts. Search 'Art by Dragone' and 'Lagniappe Feels by thegirl20' to find them on Tumblr! Link at the end of the works in AO3!


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